August_1965 — Page 31

CITY HALL

a landmark in civic building design

VILJO REVELL · JOHN B. PARKIN ASS..

architects

BEER PRECAST CONCRETE, LTD.,

precast producer

Parkin Associates, architects and engineers, Toronto, in a joint venture to carry out the intent of the entry.

Revell's desire was to expose all the concrete, which combines acid- etched textures, smooth form finishes, and concrete panels inset with strips. of marble to complement the large scale of the building. The final design incorporates both precast and cast in situ concrete.

One of the most striking features of the city hall is the distinctive ap- pearance of the huge backwalls of the towers. Here, precast panel sur- faces cast with split-faced Italian Bot- ticino marble introduce a level of aesthetics that has since caught on, influencing the concrete facings and finishes being currently used on other structures in Toronto.

The 4,200 panels for the job were produced by Beer Precast Concrete,

East Tower-27 Floors

Council Chamber

West Tower-20 Floors

Ceremonial Ramp

Nathan Phillips Square

Podium

Outstanding engineering feature of Toron- to City Hall is method by which clear- span roof is supported. Structural design incorporates conical section with three post-tensioned compression rings transfer- ring the roof load to the foundation

Marble-faced panels are used on the tower backwalls. Approximately 400 pieces of Italian Botticino marble, 3/4 in. and 1-3/4 in. wide and from 4 in, to 6 in. Jong, were hand placed in a special extruded rubber form for each panel. Panels are 11 ft. by 4 ft. and weigh about 3000 lb. each,

Reflecting

Pool

Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square cover a 12.75 acre site. Precast applications include 5630 crowned paving slabs for a self-cleaning square, 4200 marble-faced panels for outside tower walls, 1000 acid-etched spandrel panels for curtain walls, balustrade and cere. monial ramp panels, benches and hand. rails.

Far East Architect & Builder August, 1965

Compression

Rings

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