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AUGUST 2018 | 55 CN Tower Observation Level Renovation PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY CUMULUS ARCHITECTS INC.; CN TOWER CN Tower Observation Level Renovation by ROBIN BRUNET LOCATION 301 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario OWNER/DEVELOPER Canada Lands Company Limited ARCHITECT Cumulus Architects Inc. GENERAL CONTRACTOR PCL Constructors Canada Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT RJC Engineers MECHANICAL CONSULTANT The Mitchell Partnership Inc. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Mulvey & Banani INTERIOR DESIGN mackaywong TOTAL SIZE 15,000 square feet TOTAL COST $16 million A nyone who rode the elevators to the top of Toronto's CN Tower prior to the landmark celebrat- ing its 42nd birthday on June 26 will likely remember touring its main observation floor as a dark, vaguely claustrophobic experience – with meals in the tower's restaurant being a satisfying but unmemorable diversion. All of that is a distant memory, thanks to owner Canada Lands Company Limited retaining Cumulus Architects Inc.and PCL Constructors Canada Inc. to perform an upgrade 1,136 feet above Toronto's downtown core. The $16-million undertaking, split into two phases, first saw the replace- ment of two out of 12 column bays in the LookOut level with new floor- to-ceiling glazing and demolition of the Horizons restaurant. This was followed in October of 2017 by a com- plete open-concept redevelopment of the remaining space and two addi- tional window bays, all of which for guests would mean far greater acces- sibility (soon to be certified by the Rick Hansen Foundation), new bistro- style drink and food options featuring Canadian-inspired cuisine, and space for private events accommodating any- where from 80 to 800 people. Many other features – including a new glass floor on the upper level that looks down on the existing glass floor of the level below (which itself pro- vides brave guests with vertiginous views straight down to ground level) – would bring new life to the observation floor, but arguably the most effective element aside from the transparent floor and massive windows was a rela- tively simple architectural instalment. "We covered the ceilings with mir- rored panels," says Sheldon Catarino, principal and director of Cumulus Architects. "And although we knew they would have a substantial visual impact, we were amazed by how they not only open up the space but also combine with the windows to provide guests with incredible vistas of the city and waterfront, as soon as they leave the elevators." When Cumulus was awarded the project after an extensive design com- petition under a design-build process, Catarino quickly appreciated that "over 50 percent of the public floor space in CN Tower was taken up by the restau- rant, but the venue generated only two to three percent of the tower's overall revenue, and this along with accessi- bility and other considerations greatly influenced our work." Cumulus decided to scrap the res- taurant concept and establish five different configurations that would accommodate different types of social events, "and we changed the food offer- ing to a higher quality three kiosk set-up, each themed according to their orientation towards the city, the water- front, and the lake," says Catarino. Gordon Mackay, co-founder of the hospitality design firm mackaywong, points out that the core idea of the new food offering "was to pull it back from the windows where the old restaurant used to be and towards the inner core. Storytelling was also an important goal for us, and so we enhanced the three kiosks with applied graphic treatments reflecting the three different views: for example, an abstract grid matrix map for the waterfront, an azure blue graphic for the lake, and a pure graphic play of a street grid for the city." As evidenced by the mirrored ceil- ing, relatively simple touches made a big difference in the 15,000 square feet of space Cumulus redesigned. "For example, we got rid of the very busy carpeting and replaced it with a white vinyl floor, which really helped open everything up and would look great at night," says Catarino. Other materials, including the por- celain tiles near the elevator cores, were selected as much for their resil- iency as their visual appeal. "We also installed a free-form tiered bleacher made of Corian, with melted-in and buffed out colours that contribute to this seating area being a unique show- case," says Catarino. In bringing the design vision to life, PCL Constructors Canada faced three enormous challenges: working in a confined space that had to remain

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