First Canadian Place - Toronto, Canada

[dik]

TORONTO — The management of First Canadian Place, Canada's tallest skyscraper, was ordered yesterday to have the exterior of the building declared safe by its engineers after a large slab of marble fell off, leaving major arteries in Toronto's financial district paralyzed.

Jim Laughlin, the city's deputy building official, issued the company an order to remedy an unsafe condition, even though he said the company has been evaluating all the marble panels on the 72-storey tower over the last number of months.

“This particular one was something that they believe is an anomaly and ended up with some kind of fracture. And of course, once it's cracked, a couple days later, it comes loose,” Mr. Laughlin said. “The high winds, perhaps, or the weather last night, they believe to be the cause of it actually coming loose from its caulking.”

City officials and police say they want to be assured by First Canadian Place engineers that there will be no repeats of the frightening incident on Tuesday afternoon in which a 140-kilogram marble tile fell from the southwest corner of the 54th floor to the roof of the building's three-storey podium. The tile was about 18 inches by 36 inches, and an inch and a quarter thick.

from the Globe and Mail

 

[hokie66]

The marble tile that fell was on a corner, thus in a very high wind region. There are a lot of buildings around the world with marble facades which are experiencing deterioration of the cladding, particularly in cold climates.

 

[apsix]

City officials and police say they want to be assured by First Canadian Place engineers that there will be no repeats of the frightening incident ..

I'm glad it's not me having to sign that assurance.

 

[hokie66]

The 83 storey Aon tower in Chicago originally had a marble facade, which started falling off a couple of years prior to the completion of the 72 storey Toronto tower. Whole facade was replaced with granite in early 90's. I think some of the same architects were involved in the design of both towers. Don't know about the engineers, we usually don't get mentioned unless something goes wrong.

 

[dik]

First Canadian Place has already gone through major litigation as a result of discolouration of caulking used for the exterior joints.

Dik

 

[JAE]

“The high winds, perhaps, or the weather last night, they believe to be the cause of it actually coming loose from its caulking.”

So caulking was holding up the panels? heh

 

[Calif]

[JAE]
So caulking was holding up the panels? heh

LOL

Very funny JAE. I was thinking the same thing.

Calif

The resisant virtues of the structure that we seek depend on their form; it is through their form that they are stable, not because of an awkward accumulation of material. There is nothing more noble and elegant from an intellectual viewpoint than this: to resist through form. Eladio Dieste

 

[hokie66]

Dik, Sounds like the litigation over the discoloration of the sealant was just practice for what is to come. Do you know if this is the first piece of marble to dislodge?

 

[dik]

The article seemss to indicate it was the first one. I don't know how the panels are secured. Toronto is fairly humid and they have a lot of freeze-thaw cycles during a normal winter.

Dik