The Challenge:
Kingsett Capital owned the property at 700 Bay Street, an existing mixed office and rental building. Seeing the need for more rental in Toronto, and the opportunity on the property, Kingsett decided to expand the existing building significantly. The BDP Quadrangle-designed addition added six new levels atop the existing 25-storey building, while a former two-storey podium at the site’s west end has been demolished and is now being replaced by a 32-storey addition. The design was to include an entirely new building on the west side, as well as putting additional floors on the existing building. This was all going to be done while the existing tenants were to remain on-site. With such an ambitious project, the aim for Aercoustics was both ensuring the design would be amazing acoustically, but also that the construction would not bother the existing tenants of the building. Secondly, because of the intent to use CLT in residential applications, this proved a further challenge. The use of wood in building is a very sustainable design feature, but it does pose unique acoustical challenges in residential designs since there are stringent acoustic targets in the Ontario Building Code.
The Innovation:
Working with Kingsett and PCL, Aercoustics deployed extensive noise & vibration monitoring systems to ensure the construction noise was known and the entire team could be proactive during occurrences of high noise.
