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943 UrbanToronto Tours Supertall-to-be ‘SkyTower’ at Pinnacle One Yonge
Rain, fog, and sharp lakefront winds did not deter UrbanToronto and other invitees from a construction tour yesterday of SkyTower, the soon-to-be 106-storey centrepiece of Pinnacle One Yonge. The walkthrough, guided by representatives from Pinnacle International, Hariri Pontarini Architects, and others from the project team, revealed in detail the engineering, envelope, and energy systems behind what will be Canada’s tallest building.
Following an ascent in the construction hoist, the tour began on the 67th floor, where Bujar Morava, Senior Technical Director and Principal at RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering, demonstrated a scale model of the huge tuned mass damper (TMD) that will help stabilize the tower under wind load. Designed to mitigate lateral sway, TMDs are a necessity for skyscrapers, where they are typically introduced at 55 to 60 storeys. Without one, SkyTower could move with the wind for up to 8.9 seconds before swaying back. The damper’s mass and spring mechanisms counteracts the motion so that inhabitants won’t have to put up with the motion. Final detailing of the system is still being completed.
Morava and the structural team explained how SkyTower’s post-tensioned concrete slabs help reduce overall slab thickness, allowing for greater floor-to-ceiling heights and more flexible placement of shear walls. Owing to the tower’s slenderness, lateral forces play a major role in the design strategy, so its structural system is aligned east-west to respond to dominant wind directions and to optimize the load transfer.
The tour reached its highest point at the 73rd floor, where the RCS-G Rail Climbing System was visible wrapping around the tower’s perimeter. The self-climbing platform shields three and a half floors at a time, offering vital wind and fall protection. The system enables a roughly four-day cycle per floor, helping to maintain the construction schedule even when crane operations are halted due to wind or height constraints.
High-density rebar is a characteristic of the concrete here, with 16,500 tonnes of steel reinforcement making for a rebar density of 230 kilograms per cubic metre, or nearly twice that of a typical high-rise.
Inside the tower core, the group was shown the Automatic Climbing System (ACS), a hydraulically powered framework that raises the elevator core’s formwork using six large cylinders and steel brackets mounted to the walls. The system climbs with 20-foot pistons and allows continuous work independent of crane availability. This internal system, combined with the external RCS platform, allows for simultaneous vertical progress on structure and envelope.
Back at grade, the tour continued through the podium levels with Jodi Buck, Associate Partner at Hariri Pontarini Architects, and Anson Kwok, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Pinnacle. The north end of the ground floor will house the hotel lobby, with access to a restaurant space fronting the street.
On the second floor, a larger restaurant is under construction, with glazing already partially installed. At the south end of the level, a ballroom and event space will round out the hotel’s public-facing amenities.
Mechanical and servicing strategies were also reviewed, including Enwave’s district energy system in the building core. Garbage chutes have been angled to optimize service flow, while transfer slabs accommodate complex mechanical routing across uses. A glass canopy will span from SkyTower over to The Prestige, the 65-storey first phase, for a continuous pedestrian experience.
Also noted were the challenges of managing the stack effect in a supertall building, where air pressure differentials between floors can disrupt doors, garbage chutes, and elevator operation. SkyTower addresses this with elevator banks split between lower levels up to floor 56, and a separate system servicing the floors above.
Stairwells are pressurized and incorporate vestibules on Levels 33, 58, and 83 to act as buffer zones. Each floor was simulated individually to account for pressure dynamics, ensuring door seals, shafts, and chutes all perform reliably.
The tour paused on Level 7 at the outdoor terrace, where Buck described the architectural and structural coordination behind the balconies. Designed with fins that frame and accent the tower, these fins are both aesthetic gestures and structural elements, engineered to manage lateral loads. The terrace level offered a close-up view of the Toronto Star Building, seen below, now proposed for demolition to make way for future phases.
The final stop was Level 42, a typical residential floor that illustrates how the building’s layout changes with its height. Up to Level 78, each floor contains approximately 12 suites arranged around the central core. Above that point, the unit count gradually drops (first to seven, then six, and eventually four per floor) as the tower narrows.
Nadine El-Gazzar, Associate and Senior Project Architect at Hariri Pontarini, noted that as of the tour, concrete had reached Level 75, while glazing installation was progressing through Levels 55 and 56. She noted how the distinctive nose-shaped profile creates a twisting visual effect even though the glazing panels themselves are flat. The unitized curtain wall system is engineered for aesthetic clarity and constructability, with installation underway on the lower levels, including champagne-toned metal panels.
Though the city view was lost in fog, the tour offered a clear look at the coordination driving a project of this scale.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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UrbanToronto has a research service, UTPro, that provides comprehensive data on development projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe — from proposal through to completion. We also offer Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
