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Veiled in Stainless
THE MAGAGINE DEVOTED TO NICKEL AND ITSAPPLICATIONS
October 2003
Volume 19, Number 1
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THOUSANDS OF STAINLESS steel bars, 8 millimetres in diameter, create a luminous veil along the Bloor
Viaduct in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Inexpensive connections, the ability to withstand lateral loads and aesthetic considerations were the key
points cited by designers for using S31600 stainless steel.
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THE DECK OF THE STRUCTURE carries a 4-lane highway and two subway tracks beneath it.
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CONSTRUCTED IN 1919, the Bloor Viaduct crosses the Don River, one railway line and two highways.
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Stainless steel rods create a barrier to suicidal tendencies. By Virginia Heffernan
Nickel magazine, October, 2003 -- A new stainless steel barrier will prevent further
suicides at the Bloor Street Viaduct in Toronto, Ontario where the number of people jumping to their deaths
once rivaled the suicide rate for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.
The barrier consists of some 9,000 vertical rods designed to create a "luminous veil" around the
84-year-old viaduct, whose original construction was described in Michael Ondaatje's award-winning novel
In the Skin of a Lion. A structural steel frame holds the rods in place along the 500-metre-long
historic landmark.
More than 17 tonnes of S31600 stainless steel, containing 12% nickel, were used to make the 5-metre long,
8-millimetre-diameter rods, says Mike Laidlaw, project manager for Toronto's city engineering department. The
veil design, which packs the slender rods close enough together to prevent people slipping between them while
preserving the view from the bridge, won the 1999 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence.
The designer, Derek Revington, initially considered other materials, including galvanized wire rope, says
Laidlaw, but in the end, they decided stainless steel would do the best job of minimizing deflection under
lateral loads, while reducing the cost of connections. There were also aesthetic considerations.
"Since this structure has historic significance and since the addition of the barrier was viewed to be an
artistic element that would enhance the bridge, stainless steel was selected over galvanized materials,"
Laidlaw explains. The durability and low maintenance attributes of stainless steel were also taken
into account.
Since the Bloor Street Viaduct was built in 1919, more than 400 people have jumped from the bridge to
their deaths. The Schizophrenia Society that lobbied for the C$6-million barrier says similar efforts at
other "suicide magnets," such as the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, have prevented impulsive
jumps by the mentally ill.
Virginia Heffernan is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
PHOTOS: by Tom Skudra for NiDI
Project Manager:
Mike Laidlaw, P.Eng.
Department of Works & Emergency Services
City of Toronto
Tel: 1-416-392-8346
E-mail: mlaidla@toronto.ca
Architect:
Derek Revington
Associate Professor
University of Waterloo, School of Architecture
200 University Ave.
Waterloo, Canada
N2L 3G1
Tel: 1-519-888-4567, Ext 5726
E-mail: kerrev@sprint.ca
Engineering:
Yolles Engineering Solutions
163 Queen St. E., Suite 200
Toronto, Canada
M5A 1S1
Tel:1-416-363-8123
Fax: 1-416-363-0341
E-mail: info@yolles. com
Web site: www.yolles.com
For other recent Nickel Magazine articles on the use of nickel-containing materials in architecture, click here.
For more on the use of nickel-containing materials in architecture, visit www.stainlessarchitecture.org
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