Refreshing a 30-Year old tower: First Canadian Place

Tony · #1 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:40 AM**

REFRESHING A 30-YEAR-OLD TOWER
First Canadian Place
From Novae Res Urbis - City of Toronto Edition - Vol 13 No. 38

For an office tower constructed in 1975, it could be challenging to renovate and restore First Canadian Place to achieve LEED certification more than 30 years later. Brookfield Properties Corporation is up to the challenge.

The owner of the uncontested tallest office building in Canada announced that the tower at King Street west and Bay Street will undergo a major interior and exterior renovation including all new cladding with glass spandrel panels on its exterior walls.

The new laminated glass panels, which are resistant to thermal stress and can be insulated to increase its thermal performance, will replace the building’s existing marble exterior. “This rejuvenation program will reinforce the iconic status of one of Canada’s most prominent and recognizable buildings,” said Tom Farley, president and CEO of Canadian commercial operations for Brookfield Properties.

The 72-storey tower is 2.8-million square feet of offices, banks, a three-level shopping complex and parking and was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone. It is estimated that more than 16-million people visit First Canadian Place annually.

Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects are the design architects for the renovation, which includes interior infrastructure upgrades and enhanced energy conservation. The glass work is designed by Doyle Partners.

The overall cladding project includes installation of 7,800-glass spandrel panels on the building façade, totaling 375,000-square feet; the existing 45,000 pieces of marble will be removed and recycled, according to Brookfield.

One glass spandrel panel replaces eight pieces of marble. The existing windows will remain in place.

The tower will also get chiller machine and transformer replacements and high-efficiency toilets and faucets will be installed.

The goal is to obtain LEED–EB:OM certification, which is for existing buildings in the operations and maintenance category.

The project will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

Tony · #2 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:41 AM**

Dunno if anyone else read this article... just what we need, another glass box

As bad as the patchwork of dis-coloured marble it is, this is does not appear to be a good solution.

Need renderings....

MolsonExport · #3 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:43 AM**

read the article this weekend past. rather monotonous makeover

Tony · #4 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:45 AM**

ah-ha.. there's a website:

www.redefiningfirst.com

source: www.redefiningfirst.com

Not as bad as I initially thoughts... <whew>

Rathgrith · #5 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

Dunno if anyone else read this article... just what we need, another glass box

As bad as the patchwork of dis-coloured marble it is, this is does not appear to be a good solution.

Need renderings....

Its better than slabs of marble (one tonne I think) falling off and crushing those below.

But I think the real goal of the glass is to make it look shinier than the other bank branded skyscrapers nearby and therefor make potential customers think that BMO is better...because their building is shinier.

Calgarian · #6 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:54 AM**

That's gonna look pretty good, much better than the Marble. Marble wears really bad in this climate, that's why it looked like crap and was falling apart.

LeftCoaster · #7 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 3:18 AM**

Tony, more information on this can be found in the top 10 construction thread including pictures of the already in progress stripping of the marble.

Thanks for the article though, it answered my question of when the completion is scheduled for.

Dr Nevergold · #8 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 4:31 AM**

Fantastic, I think this is the largest such recladding and LEED conversion attempted thus far, if I'm not mistaken.

I was skeptical it could be done until seeing that photo, that looks absolutely amazing.

Rico Rommheim · #9 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 5:01 AM**

Too bas I love marble! I guess you just can't pull it off at this scale (see Aon building)

vid · #10 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 7:53 AM**

AON Building was designed by the same architect and used the same stone. I don't like marble or granite used on buildings because if it isn't kept clean and polished, it looks really grubby and cheap. From a distance, FCP might as well have been clad in concrete panels.

srperrycgy · #11 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 8:11 AM**

When I worked in Petro-Canada Centre (now Suncor Energy Centre), I noticed that both the windows and the marble were cleaned by the window cleaners. Kinda cool to watch.

Slug · #12 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 8:50 AM**

Shouldn't this be in the Toronto local.... oh wait.

caltrane74 · #13 Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 3:02 PM**

yeah, there is no Toronto local...

Anyways this just became the reclad thread..

shogged · #14 Posted **Oct 4, 2009, 11:50 PM**

i think it looks great! its just a modern refresh that stays well within the original design

Fmarotte · #15 Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 12:23 AM**

"2.8-million square feet of offices" Damn that's way bigger that I thought.

G.S MTL · #16 Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 4:32 AM**

shouldnt this thread be in Ontario forum? is it just me or is this site messed up?

Calgarian · #17 Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 4:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fmarotte

"2.8-million square feet of offices" Damn that's way bigger that I thought.

That includes the base and Parkade if i read correctly.

Rico Rommheim · #18 Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 6:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

shouldnt this thread be in Ontario forum? is it just me or is this site messed up?

thank you malek!

Tony · #19 Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 11:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

shouldnt this thread be in Ontario forum? is it just me or is this site messed up?

It's the COUNTRY'S tallest tower. Deal with it.

G.S MTL · #20 Posted **Oct 5, 2009, 5:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

thank you malek!

malek?