Renovation to the Art Gallery of Ontario
... the steel stairs
Frank Gehry Architect
Toronto, Ontario
| Terri Meyer Boake BES BArch MArch LEED AP Associate Professor :: Associate Director :: School of Architecture :: University of Waterloo |
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Renovation to the Art Gallery of Ontario ... the steel stairs Frank Gehry Architect Toronto, Ontario
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Design
Architect: Frank Gehry Gehry has used a series of curved steel framed stairs throughout the project. There is the main feature stair that rised up the centre of the building, connecting old Walker Court to the new top floors of the extension. There is a spiraling stair that sits outside of the glass wall on the south face of the building. There are also two other spiral exit stairs that will service the south facade. Although
I did manage to see inside the project in June, and can report that
the feature stair is about 2/3 installed, photos were not permitted.
I visited the shop of Mariani Metals in north Toronto, and have included
some images of the steel stairs in production at the shop. The main
stair requires some very complex joinery due to the use of bent steel
tubes as its main structural support. Splicing the tubes on site is
quite difficult as they tend to deform during bending, which is quite
natural. The wall thickness of the tube is between 5/8" and 7/8". |
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Project
Images: June 2007
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The upper landing of the steel
stair hanging from the south face of the extension.
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Closer view of
this landing. Note the open steel tube. This will be connected to the
next section of the stair when it is lifted into place. |
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The main structure of the landing
is in the form of a modified HSS truss system.
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Cutouts in the
WF beam to allow for the passage of services. You can see that plates
have been added to reinforce around the cutouts. |
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Until all of the sections are
securely in place, tension connectors support the cantilevered section.
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A flatbed delivers two additional
sections - parked on Beverly Street, waiting for site access.
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Closer view of
one of these sections.
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As the steel will not be left exposed,
you can see more serviceable welding techniques are employed.
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| A WF member is cut, ready for
a connection.
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View up the south facade at the
upper landing.
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Another truckload of segments.
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The plate extension here will be used as a temporary
connector that will hold the sections in place, so that the crane can
be disengaged, prior to completion of the welds on the tubes.
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View of teh same connection on the lower tube of the
frame.
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A plate attached that will be used for lifting.
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The ends of the tubes are taped
during painting so that the steel will NOT be painted, leaving it clean
for welding. My hand here so that you have some idea of scale.
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Close view of another
of the connection points. |
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A couple more sections parked
behind the project waiting to be lifted. |
And more sections. |
| More stair pieces, August 2007 | |
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Support for a landing - as of August 2007 all of the
sections of this stair are still waiting to be erected. |
The section is supported on a steel frame in behind for temporary support/transportation. |
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View of some steel plate ribs that support the flat
plate portion. |
Detailed view. |
| Mariani Metals - June 2007 | |
| Feature Stair | |
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Inside the fabrication shop.
They are working simultaneously on a number of sections of the stair.
This is the feature stair. |
As the stair is
only supported, hanging from the adjacent structure, at about 4 or 5 points,
this steel plate forms a key part of the structural integrity of the
feature stair. You can see two temporary lifting points in this view. |
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One of the feature stair pieces
being prepped. The main tubes have been cut. The small plate type joists
are laid on to the trapezoidal connectors, already attached to the
tube. The large plate upon which the steps will be fixed, has not yet
been bent. |
As the stair involved
a bent surface to affix the steps, the plates are cut into smaller
trapezoidal sections, that are welded together, to allow for easier
creation of a uniformly curving bent surface. |
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A view of one of the flatter
bent sections. |
Alternate view. |
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A landing for the feature stair. |
View to the underside
of the landing showing the support structure - round tubes with small
vertically oriented steel plates to provide additional support to the
main plate. Curved plate is also used around the perimeter. |
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A closer view of some of the
cut tubular sections that must be joined via welding to their neighbour
sections. |
My hand again to
give you an idea of scale. |
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Tubes cut and lined up ready
to go. |
View to the underside
of part of a feature stair section. |
| Secondary Stair | |
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Some of the sections of the secondary
stair being worked on in the shop. |
You can see that
the detailing is quite different from that of the feature stair. |
back to steel projects gallery
These images are for educational use only and may not be reproduced commercially without written permission. tboake@sympatico.ca |
Updated June 17, 2008
