Exhibition Place opens Sky Bridge
Exhibition Place officially opened its new Sky Bridge on October 6.
The glass-enclosed walkway connects Beanfield Centre to Hotel X Toronto.
"Today's opening of the Sky Bridge at Exhibition Place marks a significant milestone as we work towards achieving an exciting vision for the future," said Exhibition Place President and CEO Don Boyle. “We are enhancing access to Exhibition Place's historic and landmark buildings, landscapes, and features that provide the foundation for meetings, conventions and exhibitions. The ongoing evolution of Exhibition Place will build upon this tradition by showcasing innovation and enhancing spaces for all visitors.”
The new Sky Bridge runs east-west on a slight angle across Newfoundland Road, linking the conference levels of Beanfield Centre and Hotel X Toronto mid-block between Princes' Boulevard and Lake Shore Boulevard West.
Designed by NORR Architects and built by EllisDon, the bridge features a floor-to-ceiling insulated glass panel cladding that encloses the architectural exposed steel structure and a three-colour interlayered film and bird-friendly pattern. A multicolour film decreases the solar heat gain to less than half of the levels of transparent glazing.
"The Sky Bridge is a connection of three projects over more than a decade, and is a significant link between a historic building and a new building in an unobtrusive, light and transparent design," said Silvio Baldassarra, Chair, NORR Architects and Engineers.
This pedestrian connection at Exhibition Place provides an all-season link between the Beanfield Conference Centre and Hotel X Toronto over Newfoundland Road. The pedestrian walkway is 36.3 metres long.
The bridge incorporates a coloured 5 mm dot pattern that decreases the solar heat gain and mitigates bird collisions with floor-to-ceiling insulated glass. Natural limestone panels laminated to an aluminium honeycomb core are utilized for the exterior cladding and soffit, providing a complementary visual integration between the two existing buildings.
The walkway is supported at two locations: the existing Hotel X Toronto structure and a central pier. The structure at the connection point of Hotel X Toronto had been designed in coordination with structural engineering with additional capacity in anticipation of the connection of the elevated pedestrian walkway. The opposite end of the bridge features a 16.5-metre long cantilever towards the existing Beanfield Centre, with no structural connection to the building. This soft connection minimizes the impact on the heritage building and allows the bridge to act as a reversible intervention.
The floor and roof girders, columns, and rod braces function as a vertical truss to resist lateral and gravity loads in the longitudinal direction. In the transverse direction, the columns and transverse roof beams form moment frames to withstand lateral loads. The in-place braces, floor and roof girders, and transverse beams function as horizontal trusses to resist wind loads.
The 3-D structural analysis reviewed deflections and resistance of the structure and the dynamic performance of the design under pedestrian-induced loading. Canadian guidelines, American and European guidelines on structural vibration were consulted when performing the dynamic analysis and determining the acceptability criteria. A custom-designed Mass Tune Damper hidden above the ceiling at the end of the cantilever portion of the truss significantly reduced perceivable rocking vibration that pedestrians may otherwise experience.
Featured image: The Sky Bridge connects Beanfield Centre to Hotel X Toronto. (CNW Group/Exhibition Place)