VT SYSTEM FOR TORONTO ACADEMIC LIBRARY EXPANSION
VT SYSTEM FOR TORONTO ACADEMIC LIBRARY EXPANSION
The lobby of Robarts Common, the Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed expansion of Robarts Library at the University of Toronto, will be outfitted with three machine-room-less KONE elevators, Diamond Schmitt Director of Communications Paul French tells ELEVATOR WORLD. The five-story addition to the main, 14-story building will add 1,200 work and study spaces to Toronto's largest academic library, described as a prime example of the concrete Brutalist style of the 1960s. Expected to be complete for the 2019-2020 academic year, the freestanding expansion will connect with the existing building via a four-story bridge.
VT SHUTDOWN AT NY CONVENTION CENTER HIGHLIGHTS NEEDS
The recent shutdown of the 10 escalators at the Floreano Rochester Convention Center in Rochester, New York, highlights the need to upgrade the center’s vertical-transportation (VT) system, which, at approximately 30 years old, is reaching the end of its lifespan, News 10 NBC reports. A step on one of the escalators broke in May. No one was injured, but the incident prompted a shutdown of the system for evaluation that lasted through at least July 20. It would cost approximately US$1 million to replace the aging escalators, and tourism leaders are hoping to get some help from the state.
MILWAUKEE OFFICE TOWER POISED TO OPEN TO TENANTS
Employees of Northwestern Mutual are set to move into their new corporate headquarters in downtown Milwaukee on August 21, BizTimes reports. The US$450-million, 32-story Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons is mostly complete, with support staff already working inside its 1.1 million sq. ft. in advance of the opening. Contractors Gilbane and C.G. Schmidt initially handled construction. The building has now been turned over to Northwestern Mutual.
