I'm visiting Toronto right now and staying at the Delta Chelsea (right near the Aura build site). They've dug a massive pit, and they are also moving around massive steel girders. It looks like some noticeable progress has been made.

Aura from ethervizion at UT- 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.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/...b04f62eddd.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/...8f7689eb4a.jpg


Old parking booth
The parking booth from the parking lot that was on the site. The booth is not in its original location.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/...ac1da0bbe2.jpg


Digging Action
Digging action by the side of the parking ramp.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/...f2f9b37607.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/...996a1173d3.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/...f5d0f64d44.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/...8f82f8657f.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/...66ef2c78f8.jpg


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.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...4b156ba285.jpg

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.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/...9628859364.jpg


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.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2708/...50433e4054.jpg

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.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/...29c1111ce3.jpg

Lots of equipment lying around.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2783/...773e893b80.jpg


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.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/...9da7832eda.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/...3789a68591.jpg

Excellent batch of updates! Nice digging progress over there :)

I have a feeling this one will get well past 200 pages before it's done.

^Yeah, it's going to be interesting which one one will get the most posts, this, Trump or the Bow.

Regardless, it's a pretty exciting time to be following skyscrapers in Canada. :yes:

double post

Sure is... I've been coast to coast over the past week and seen everything under construction!

Man... 2014 seems very far away if you think about it... man...... Tons of time to get these pages loaded with updates/posts/double posts :haha: !

This one will/hopefully/should be real fun to watch! There's so many angles that we'll have to look at it! :D

this is my favourite building under construction in canada right now, I just wish it was visible

Groundbreaking/digging is probably the most boring phase in skyscraper construction (at least to me :) )... The next 2 years will be quite boring but after that things will move fast! :D

Aura by ethervizon on UT:

http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.ph...G-C%29/page152

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/...c376fd1565.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...4a04b2414d.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/...b540ba1ff7.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2787/...8e4bb0a432.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...dec68814aa.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2719/...02ab596dbd.jpg

I noticed that the shoring rigs have been leaving the site, one by one. Now it's just the excavators on site. Things are progressing rapidly.

Updates from this morning! (march 15, 2010)

I was amazed on how much work is being done down there! There are tons of machines/workers on site digging ferociously :D It was a truly EPIC sight to see! Such a huge building will rise here!!!!!!!

*****Notice Lumiere Condo in the background!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/...ec1a312d_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...ddd2a0e7_b.jpg

Here's some vids i took from 2 days ago!

Aura:

• Video Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSxeRVvCqGE

• Video Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhe8iLxA6Jk


vids by me: steveve :)

the aura will look amazing!!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :D

But don't speak too soon! You'll jinx it as Sammo would have said! :haha:

ahh.. sammo..

gone with the wind I guess..

It took 100 years but a tower begins to rise


April 23, 2010

Adam McDowell

Read More: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/can...tml?id=2940880




http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...n?size=404x272

Cool, nice to read about stuff like that, and see how fast the excavation is going..

Aura is rolling!

Wrong on 2 counts. AURA is 550 km from from the nearest super tall (New York City). It's the distance from the Toronto CBD that will make it stand out. They also mention other supertall towers. AURA isn't a supertall.