Demolition Sublime 2

Posted on April 8th, 2015 by tberesford

Posted under: _Daniels Building, construction

Another dispatch from the 1 Spadina jobsite in Toronto: structural demolition work is now complete along the original north wall of the Knox College heritage structure (constructed 1875).  At the time of our site visit, a few existing openings remain to be infilled with masonry; attachment of weather protection (see in bright orange) at recent Phase 1 concrete and block walls around the central stair block was ongoing.   The site is now ready for shoring and excavation activities in preparation for Phase 2 construction.

 

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Panoramic view of the north side of 1 Spadina: all additions to the original heritage building have been demolished.

 

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View of the central stair block in the foreground, and heritage masonry work occuring in the background. The removal of existing additions has revealed original ruble foundations, as well as new concrete foundation walls completed as part of the Phase 1 renovation work.

 

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Openings that will connect to the new Phase 2 addition have been hoarded with sheathing; existing openings have been infilled with block and occasionally support lintels for new openings, as seen at left. The dark exposed masonry at far left is the remaining wall of a former airwell that was formed by the demolished Connaught laboratory addition.

 

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Sawcut rubble foundations and 2 to 3 wythe masonry walls have been exposed at the location of the demolished military hospital wing. Holes in the existing fabric will be filled at the time that access is enabled by the Phase 2 addition concrete slabs.

 

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Formwork was being released at the Phase 1 concrete foundations formed to support new janitor, electrical and IT closets surrounding the central heritage stair block.

 

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Existing interior finishes are now exposed on the exterior in several locations.

 

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Weather protection has been installed along the roofline, in anticipation of the Phase 2 addition roof tie-in.

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Demolition Sublime

Posted on March 3rd, 2015 by tberesford

Posted under: _Daniels Building, construction

Dispatches from 1 Spadina: ongoing demolition work has almost completely exposed the original north wall of Knox College (constructed 1875), which has revealed the layers of nearly 150 years of alterations and retrofits to serve uses as varied as academic, hospital, military, research, and mechanical plant space.

 

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West face of the 1 Spadina east heritage wing, after demolition of 20th century additions.

 

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East face of the 1 Spadina west heritage wing, after demolition of 19th and 20th century additions.

 

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A view of the central tower block, looking south-east from the third floor level of a 20th century addition in the process of being demolished. Existing gothic arches are evident in the right foreground, which were originally expressed on the exterior. The larger relieving arch had been truncated by the installation of a concrete slab, which is now visible as a saw-cut section (with some reinforcing steel remaining to be cut). The new DFALD addition will lap over this slab edge onto the heritage roof beyond. New concrete blocks are visible at left, which enclose a retrofitted elevator shaft. Beyond, new buff replacement brick are visible at the gable of the central block.

 

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View of the west wall of the original east wing. A palimpsest of previous interior wall finishes and various cut slabs and masonry construction has appeared between new and existing opening hoarded temporarily with sheathing.

 

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View of 20th century addition at the southeast corner of the original 1 Spadina courtyard. Over the course of demolition, access has become restricted; here, ongoing structural separation work beyond the masonry wall in the foreground is accessible only via ladder through an existing portal. A slab-chipping machine is visible beyond at upper left.

 

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Brick wythes are visible at a section of wall to host an enlarged opening for a doorway. Outer wythes are often infilled with rubble in the original construction. A section of former wood lintel is evident.

 

 

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NADER SANDWICHED

Posted on November 20th, 2014 by Nicole Sakr

Posted under: construction, Things We Like

Reviewing structure in western Massachusetts

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Study Table Mock-up

Posted on November 13th, 2014 by pmacdowell

Posted under: construction, NADLAB

Down in our shop, work has begun on a custom table made of aluminum and anigre-faced plywood. The client commissioned us to design a table where their family of five could work and study together. The pinwheel form provides each user with a dedicated space and routes computer cables through an opening at the center. The pieces of the table flat-pack for easy shipping and are bolted together with specialized custom fasteners.

table2Exploded Axonometric drawing showing the assembly logic of the table.

table3A mock-up was built to evaluate the material choices and test the custom fasteners.

tableMockup01Waterjet-cut 6061 Aluminum features a non-directional satin finish. CNC-cut Plywood with an Apple-ply core is faced with White Anigre.

tableMockup02The wood and aluminum are laminated together with Marine Epoxy.

tableMockup03Tight tolerances are critical for the precision attachments.

table1Detail Axonometric Section through the Leg / Table-top connection.

tableMockup09The unique aluminum fasteners are machined by hand in our shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DFALD Hyperbolic Paraboloid Ceiling Mockup #2 – Radiant Panels

Posted on November 7th, 2014 by tberesford

Posted under: _Daniels Building, construction, NADLAB

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A year ago, NADAAA blogged about our hyperbolic paraboloid ceiling mock-up, which will be featured above the third floor design studio at the new Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.  Since that time, the client has charged us with an additional mandate:  to reduce projected mechanical energy through the incorporation of radiant mechanical systems throughout the building.  This mandate presented a unique challenge for our feature ceiling:  radiant chilled panels are almost always flat, where our design distinguishes itself through a subtle ruled curvature.

Radiant panels are widely used in Europe, but are less common in North America.  Nevertheless, we corresponded with several vendors, all of whom were enthusiastic about helping us resolve this technical hurdle.  This fall, we provided space and support to enable Twa Panel to replicate our mockup, only this time using a new graphite-core radiant panel product with embedded copper hydronic tubing, provided by SGL Group.  Twa Panel gambled that the graphite panel and tubes would be flexible enough to conform to the gradual curvature, which is smaller in degree (approx. 550″ radius) than it appears when viewed in composite across a surface.  The mock-up proved successful, as the panels twisted with relative ease:

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Rendering of the Level 03 Design Studio feature ceiling at the new Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto

 

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HyPar Mockup No.2: 2’x8′ radiant graphite-core panels on 1/4″ plywood strapping, over light gauge stud backup framing. NADAAA’s original mockup is seen beyond.

 

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In this image, the radiant graphite panels are mudded and taped against a perimeter of conventional 1/2″ thick gypsum board, ready for a standard paint finish.

 

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This image shows the backside (top) of the mockup, where copper leaders penetrate the backside of the panels for connection to hydronic tube supply/return connections.

 

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NIGHT AND DAY

Posted on September 16th, 2014 by tberesford

Posted under: _Daniels Building, construction

The results of vine removal and ongoing masonry cleaning at 1 Spadina Crescent, as part of the Phase I Renovations for the University of Toronto Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape + Design. (In collaboration with Adamson Associates and ERA Architects).

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AFTER: 1 Spadina Crescent, west wing pictured after vine removal and masonry cleaning (August 2014)

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BEFORE: 1 Spadina Crescent, west wing pictured (December 2012)

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Nader lectures at UCLA

Posted on August 11th, 2014 by Lisa LaCharité

Posted under: _Daniels Building, construction, Lectures

Nader gives his lecture ‘Pedagogical Constructs’  at UCLA Architecture & Urban Design on October 27, 2014 at 6:30pm.

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The above image is a rendering and mock-up for the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. See our NADLAB post on the mock-up for further details. 

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Almost done……..

Posted on August 7th, 2014 by achang

Posted under: _Melbourne School of Design, construction

In the summer of 2009 John Wardle Architects invited us (then office dA) to collaborate on a open design competition for University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning.  Through the competition the University’s mission was to select a design team rather than a completed design.  So our trans-global collaboration extended through an extensive re-evaluation of program and budget, complete redesign, documentation and construction.  Today, 5 short years later, delivered by Brookfield Multiplex 6 months ahead of schedule and with a 6 star Greenstar rating, the building is nearly complete.

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SLAB XRAY: NERVOUS SYSTEM

Posted on July 19th, 2014 by tberesford

Posted under: _Daniels Building, construction

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All slab-bourne conduit serving level 03/level 02 ceiling electrical, IT and A/V devices. (courtesy Mulvey Banani Intl Inc.)

 

These are images of the electrical nervous system to be embedded in the concrete slabs supporting the graduate design studios at the new U of Toronto Daniels Faculty of Architecture.  Lines shown in cool/blue tones indicate conduit that will serve devices mounted to or embedded within the exposed concrete ceilings below.  Lines shown in warm tones indicate conduit that will serve floorboxes at the top of the floor slab.  If we are lucky, we will be able to embed/conceal all of these conduits within the congested 12 inch thickness of concrete also containing hydronics for radiant cooling/heating, reinforcing bar, and voids that will reduce the slab’s dead load self weight.

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There are two major bottlenecks that correspond roughly with the locations of the “spinal cord/brain”: the electrical and IT closets located at the the northeast and northwest stair cores, respectively.  From these locations, conduit fan out in all directions.  However, the local bottlenecks are exasperated by a large, floor-through penetration right at the center of the plan, which corresponds with a large amphitheater sunken to the level below.  We will try to mitigate the need for additional slab thickness at areas of congestion by omitting slab voids in those locations.

 

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Detail of data (orange) and electrical (yellow) conduits serving cast-in floor boxes at the graduate design studio level. (courtesy Mulvey Banani Intl Inc.)

 

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Joseph Reed Gets a Face Lift

Posted on July 15th, 2014 by achang

Posted under: _Melbourne School of Design, construction

The Historic Facade of the Bank of New South Wales is an essential element of, what is lovingly called, The Concrete Lawn.  In the competition stage teams struggled with whether to relocate it or to integrated it into the new FABP  building.  We chose the latter.

 

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JOSEPH REED’S BANK OF NEW SOUTH WALES FACADE  PRE-DEMOLITION 

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APRIL 2013 – HISTORIC FACADE BRACED

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JULY 2013 – EVERYTHING BUT JOSEPH REED IS DEMOLISHED

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DEC 2013 – PRIMARY STRUCTURE ERECTED

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JUNE 2014 – DRYWALL FRAMING

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JULY 2014 – DRYWALL ALMOST COMPLETE….

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JULY 2014 – FIRST COAT

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