Ever wonder what the CN Tower would look like as a condo? Moses Structural Engineers and Quadrangle Architects have reimagined this Toronto landmark as a residential condo tower for a design competition.
The condo units would be made-to-order with a modular design constructed from cross-laminated timber (CLT) – a strong but light enough material to be attached to the existing tower. Construction would be quick since CLT panels are prefabricated and snapped together on site. The best part of this conceptual design? Breathtaking views of the city skyline or Lake Ontario.
More on CLT from Moses Structural Engineers:
Heartwood The Beach – Toronto’s first six-storey mid-rise condo
Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre – First commercial installation of CLT in Ontario
Playvalue Toys – First retail store built from CLT in Ontario
The project was for Plan B’s Competition: The City Above the City. Plan B describes the competition below:
“Entrants were asked to select a centrally-located building in one of the world’s most populated cities and develop an innovative wood design solution that adds density through additional floor area. Known buildings, especially buildings under threat of demolition were encouraged as sites for revitalization, new development and innovation.
Housing the world’s growing urban population is one of the most significant challenges facing humanity today. Currently, half of the world’s population live in cities. By 2050, 2/3 of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Cities must develop strategically to meet these immense housing demands along with the associated infrastructure. Too often the proposed solutions to this problem show little regard for the existing framework of our cities, choosing instead to replace the old with new, at great environmental, social, and cultural cost. The greatest design challenge then, is not only to build new structures, but to build upon the existing fabric of our cities, knitting together old and new. Today, engineered wood offers designers an incredible opportunity to meet this challenge. New wood products allow designers to build taller structures that are much lighter than alternative materials (steel and concrete) while still meeting strict criteria for fire resistance and/or seismic challenges. All this can be achieved using a natural, beautiful material – grown by the sun.”
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This project in the media:
Azure
Dezeen
BlogTO
Notable
More on building with wood:
Top 10 Questions About Mid-Rise Wood Buildings
“Wood” You Believe it? Changing the Way We Build Mid-Rise in Ontario
6Wood.ca
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Renderings courtesy of Quadrangle Architects
