Toronto's Exhibition Place has seen plenty of change in recent years. Several improvements over the last decade to the site's sports and convention facilities have included the recent construction of Hotel X, now open across from the Beanfield Centre and Enercare Centre convention spaces. To improve connectivity, and make moving between buildings easy in all weather conditions, a plan to construct a pedestrian bridge between the Beanfield Centre and Hotel X has been advancing through the planning process, most recently with an application seeking Site Plan Approval (SPA) received by the City at the start of this month.

Looking north to Exhibition Place pedestrian bridge, image via submission to City of Toronto

A pre-application design concept submitted by NORR Architects received a City response at the start of 2018, identifying key design features and heritage considerations which the City wanted to see incorporated. The plan then evolved into three design concepts, each with the same connection points and location, but with varying exterior expressions. Two favourites emerged in the second round of pre-application comments in August 2018, which were presented for comment the following month. A final round of pre-application comments from October resulted in a preferred option being selected, which is now being reviewed for SPA.

Looking south to Exhibition Place pedestrian bridge, image via submission to City of Toronto

The bridge will run east-west on a slight angle across Newfoundland Road, linking the second floors of both Hotel X and the Beanfield Centre mid-block between Princes' Boulevard and Lake Shore Boulevard West. Architectural plans show a steel frame truss structure supported by a central concrete pier built on micropiles down to bedrock. The truss and pier would hold a composite metal deck with a concrete floor surface, which would be covered with carpeting.

Looking north to Exhibition Place pedestrian bridge, image via submission to City of Toronto

The structure of the bridge would also be a factor in both the interior and exterior appearance, with the visible steel frame of the bridge to be finished in architectural exposed steel. A floor to ceiling laminated insulated glass panel cladding would enclose the structure, featuring a three-colour interlayered film and 5mm dot bird-friendly ceramic frit pattern. The multicolour film would decrease the solar heat gain to under 50% of the levels of clear glazing.

Looking south to Exhibition Place pedestrian bridge, image via submission to City of Toronto

Additional information and images can be found in our database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.

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