fanoftoronto
Active Member
I tend to think of it as constructive critisism of sorts since a reaction like that compelled me to take pictures of the construction site. In an open forum like UT, you can't satisfy everyone.
Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza
cassius
Active Member
I thought that Sir Novelty Fashion's comment was posted with respect and was not scathing whatsoever - even helpful for fanoftoronto.
fanoftoronto, thanks for posting the pics! I was surprised to see how far they've gotten already.
fanoftoronto, thanks for posting the pics! I was surprised to see how far they've gotten already.
fanoftoronto
Active Member
yes they were drilling holes in the north-east corner of the site, probably to put up a more permanent fence around the perimeter (correct me if i am wrong). i didn't quite see where the concrete mixers were dumping their concrete though.
Exodus
Active Member
hey fanoftoronto. nice close-up shots of the site. makes me feel like i'm standing in the parking lot. the first couple of shots almost look like you made a miniature scale model of the construction site.
reminiscent of this photo edit :http://www.dontdopeas.com/?p=101
reminiscent of this photo edit :http://www.dontdopeas.com/?p=101
ethervizion
New Member
It seems people are itching to see photos. I forget that my view of the progress everyday is rather privileged! So, I thought I'd take some high-res close-ups to share today. All the photos can be viewed in full resolution by clicking the image and clicking "All Sizes" above the image on the flickr page. The whole set of images can be viewed at my flickr set.
South side/Gerrard St.
The crane on the right was just converted from a pile driver. One flatbed truck is leaving with some of the pile driver parts. The empty flatbed truck is waiting to take the remainder of the parts. I'm assuming that this means that shoring is almost complete. However, a couple drilling machines have been brought on site recently.
Old parking booth
The parking booth from the parking lot that was on the site. The booth is not in its original location.
Digging Action
Digging action by the side of the parking ramp.
South side/Gerrard St.
South side of the site, by Gerrard St.. The ramp on the left is new; the old ramp was where the cars are parked to the opening in the fence.
If you look at the full resolution version of the image below, you can see where holes were drilled, steel beams driven in, and concrete poured. I estimate that they are spaced about 1.5 metres apart.
East side/Yonge St.
North-East side of the site. The one remaining pile driver on the site. The other pile driver was turned into a crane today.
East side of the site, by Yonge St. As with the closeup on the south side, you can see the shoring piles in the image below.
Lots of equipment lying around.
Demolition of ramp wall
There used to be a wall coming up beside the parking ramp. This was mostly demolished a few days ago. They're still taking apart some pieces. It's not clear how much more demolition will be going on here.
South side/Gerrard St.
The crane on the right was just converted from a pile driver. One flatbed truck is leaving with some of the pile driver parts. The empty flatbed truck is waiting to take the remainder of the parts. I'm assuming that this means that shoring is almost complete. However, a couple drilling machines have been brought on site recently.
Old parking booth
The parking booth from the parking lot that was on the site. The booth is not in its original location.
Digging Action
Digging action by the side of the parking ramp.
South side/Gerrard St.
South side of the site, by Gerrard St.. The ramp on the left is new; the old ramp was where the cars are parked to the opening in the fence.
If you look at the full resolution version of the image below, you can see where holes were drilled, steel beams driven in, and concrete poured. I estimate that they are spaced about 1.5 metres apart.
East side/Yonge St.
North-East side of the site. The one remaining pile driver on the site. The other pile driver was turned into a crane today.
East side of the site, by Yonge St. As with the closeup on the south side, you can see the shoring piles in the image below.
Lots of equipment lying around.
Demolition of ramp wall
There used to be a wall coming up beside the parking ramp. This was mostly demolished a few days ago. They're still taking apart some pieces. It's not clear how much more demolition will be going on here.
Glad to see we have someone right on top of this project. Don't you dare move for the next three years!
Redroom Studios
Senior Member
ya, this kind of indepth of photo update is hugely appreciated! thank you sir!
ethervizion
New Member
One more for the road...
South-East corner, at Yonge St. and Gerrard St.
They did some new digging this afternoon on the south-east corner of the site, after I took the previous photos above. On the left side of the hole, you can see the exposed edges of the steel beams that have been driven in over the course of the past several weeks.
South-East corner, at Yonge St. and Gerrard St.
They did some new digging this afternoon on the south-east corner of the site, after I took the previous photos above. On the left side of the hole, you can see the exposed edges of the steel beams that have been driven in over the course of the past several weeks.
ethervizion
New Member
No problem. I'm lucky to get to front row seats to watch the progress everyday!
UrbanAffair
Senior Member
construction porn is awesome!! Very in depth reporting sir ethervizion, good job!!
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Thanks fanoftoronto and ethervizion! Those are fantastic. I'm amazed to see that parking booth still there. Evidently they have plans for it beyond smashing it and throwing it in the back of a dump truck. I wonder what its destination is?
AHK
Senior Member
Folks,
To clarify the terminology, and perhaps prevent some potential misunderstandings of the shoring and excavation process, there have not been any piles driven at the Aura, nor any pile drivers deployed on the site. Celvidge, in his note of several weeks ago described the shoring process, used to build the retaining walls for the excavation, in post 2081 of this thread on January 16th:
‘It's part of the shoring system, either soldier pile (the steel part) and lagging (wooden slats) or an interlocking caisson (concrete) wall. Generally soldier pile and lagging is considered flexible while interlocking caisson walls are considered rigid. Rigid shoring would be used where adjacent structures cannot tolerate any movement (ie existing College Park buildings). There might be soldier piles along College Street, where slight movement isn't as critical. Caisson walls also have the advantage of being more watertight.
In either case Deep Foundation (DFC) will auger to the required depth, insert the steel pile and fill the hole with concrete. If they are constructing Soldier Pile and lagging, they will space the piles about 3 metres apart and then fill in the gap with horizontal pieces of wood as they excavate. If they are constructing a caisson wall they will auger the piles close enough together that they connect (ie interlock). Once all of the piles are in they will start to excavate.’
Fanoftoronto - the concrete is used to fill the holes created by the augers. As explained by Celvidge, some holes have the steel beams in them, some do not. Along the Yonge Street side, the holes are up to approximately sixty feet deep, and require (according to one of the people on site) twelve cubic meters of cement, which works out to about one and a half cement mixer truck loads to fill.
AHK
To clarify the terminology, and perhaps prevent some potential misunderstandings of the shoring and excavation process, there have not been any piles driven at the Aura, nor any pile drivers deployed on the site. Celvidge, in his note of several weeks ago described the shoring process, used to build the retaining walls for the excavation, in post 2081 of this thread on January 16th:
‘It's part of the shoring system, either soldier pile (the steel part) and lagging (wooden slats) or an interlocking caisson (concrete) wall. Generally soldier pile and lagging is considered flexible while interlocking caisson walls are considered rigid. Rigid shoring would be used where adjacent structures cannot tolerate any movement (ie existing College Park buildings). There might be soldier piles along College Street, where slight movement isn't as critical. Caisson walls also have the advantage of being more watertight.
In either case Deep Foundation (DFC) will auger to the required depth, insert the steel pile and fill the hole with concrete. If they are constructing Soldier Pile and lagging, they will space the piles about 3 metres apart and then fill in the gap with horizontal pieces of wood as they excavate. If they are constructing a caisson wall they will auger the piles close enough together that they connect (ie interlock). Once all of the piles are in they will start to excavate.’
Fanoftoronto - the concrete is used to fill the holes created by the augers. As explained by Celvidge, some holes have the steel beams in them, some do not. Along the Yonge Street side, the holes are up to approximately sixty feet deep, and require (according to one of the people on site) twelve cubic meters of cement, which works out to about one and a half cement mixer truck loads to fill.
AHK
ethervizion
New Member
AHK, thanks for the clarification. It appears that the two machines on site were augers (now only one left). However, over the course of the past few weeks, as they've been inserting the steel piles, there has been occasional loud "banging" noise, which sounds much like pile driving (repeated a few times in succession). I couldn't see exactly what was causing it. Any idea what that could have been?
AHK
Senior Member
Hi etherizion,
The augering system consists of an inner shaft, with the drill bit at the bottom, and an outer shell, which is turned by the engine in the front of the machine, to rotate the whole assembly. After a few turns, the conical drill bit at the bottom gets full, and the auger lifts the shafts out of the hole, and swings to one side. The shaft is then turned very quickly in the reverse to the drill direction to spill off the earth of the drill bit. At the same time, the outer shell of the shaft is dropped down to a flange on the inner shaft, to shake loose any remaining earth on the drill bit, making a very loud banging noise when they hit. I think it is that is what you have been hearing. I am currently working in College Park (21 College building) and walk by the site on my way to and from work each day, and have seen and heard that process numerous times.
The BAUER equipment web site has photos of their different types of equipment, including their line of pile drivers. Pile drivers look quite different - they have large weights at the top of the boom, which are dropped down onto the steel beam, to push it into the ground. Also, as far as I know, when steel beams are pile driven into the ground, they are not encased in cement, they just go straight in.
Thank you very much for your photos and especially the time lapse sequences - they are great.
AHK
The augering system consists of an inner shaft, with the drill bit at the bottom, and an outer shell, which is turned by the engine in the front of the machine, to rotate the whole assembly. After a few turns, the conical drill bit at the bottom gets full, and the auger lifts the shafts out of the hole, and swings to one side. The shaft is then turned very quickly in the reverse to the drill direction to spill off the earth of the drill bit. At the same time, the outer shell of the shaft is dropped down to a flange on the inner shaft, to shake loose any remaining earth on the drill bit, making a very loud banging noise when they hit. I think it is that is what you have been hearing. I am currently working in College Park (21 College building) and walk by the site on my way to and from work each day, and have seen and heard that process numerous times.
The BAUER equipment web site has photos of their different types of equipment, including their line of pile drivers. Pile drivers look quite different - they have large weights at the top of the boom, which are dropped down onto the steel beam, to push it into the ground. Also, as far as I know, when steel beams are pile driven into the ground, they are not encased in cement, they just go straight in.
Thank you very much for your photos and especially the time lapse sequences - they are great.
AHK
fanoftoronto
Active Member
hey fanoftoronto. nice close-up shots of the site. makes me feel like i'm standing in the parking lot. the first couple of shots almost look like you made a miniature scale model of the construction site.
reminiscent of this photo edit :http://www.dontdopeas.com/?p=101
Lol! I assure you I didn't actually make a model of the construction site!!
Thank you ethervizion for those amazing pictures! and AHK for the info.