This project involved the reunification of the Montreal Eaton Centre with the Complexe les Ailes de la Mode, a building originally built in the 1930s. For these two buildings, the different construction and redevelopment stages required various interventions and works such as structural reinforcing of the floors, modification of the layout of the atriums by adding new sections of slabs and/or the demolition of certain other ones, modification of the vertical circulation with the addition of elevators and the relocation of escalators, etc. A major challenge was also the fact that the completed work required having to deal with structural elements erected at different times.
The main attraction of this project is the construction of a pedestrian bridge linking the two sides of the central elliptical atrium of Complexe les Ailes – the oculus – at the very heart of the new Time Out Market. The bridge has a bevelled cross-section, made up of 11 steel members, the main member of which consists of a custom-made beam with a length of 20 m. The architectural constraints imposed on the bridge required the addition of a Tuned Mass Damper of approximately 700 kg to reduce the amplitude of the vibrations while improving their damping, to guarantee the comfort of the people using the bridge.
NCK was mandated to provide complete structural engineering services for all of the work in both buildings. The design of the tuned mass damper was carried out in collaboration with the consulting engineering company RWDI.
