In 2021, Superkül won the design-build competition with construction lead Boszko & Verity to renovate the CN Tower’s Lower Observation Level. Working in a deeply integrated fashion, our team delivered a fully accessible and completely reimagined interior and exterior experience, including a new glass floor and a new perimeter enclosure with more steeply angled glazing, focused on enhancing visitor experience.

The project challenged us to execute a major feat: create more usable indoor space within the existing footprint while working 342 meters up in the sky under extraordinary logistical and climatic conditions. To accomplish the work, we hoisted a new four-storey permanent maintenance gantry — the first structure of its kind to be lifted by cable since the tower’s completion — and attached it to the tower’s exterior. 

We reconfigured the spatial relationship between the indoor program and the outdoor terrace area, increasing the usable interior area while ensuring a continuous design experience. This entailed removing the steel mesh safety cage that previously enclosed the entire perimeter and obscured views, and incorporating two-thirds of the tower’s circumference into the interior program. High-strength laminated glass and tailor-made aluminum mullions enclose the perimeter, fastened by custom-engineered movement connections that were designed to accommodate the tower’s significant central-axis oscillation. The terrace area features fine mesh screens above the glass, creating a tempered outdoor environment. New glazed partitions and doors form an airlock vestibule system that stabilizes airflow and wind pressure differentials, enabling seamless circulation between indoors and outdoors.

Leveraging the tower’s radial geometry, the biophilic modular ceiling design marries aesthetics and function, with digitally fabricated fins that extend centripetally like the branches of a tree, drawing the eye outward. The oak-laminated phenolic fins introduce warmth while discreetly integrating mechanical, life-safety, and AV systems within a constrained ceiling plenum. The modular assembly allows the fins to be removed and reinstalled easily for maintenance access.

We selected materials that draw inspiration from an arboreal canopy and other natural elements — rocky surfaces, the reflective surface of water, the ripple of a breeze — to honour the tower as a monument to Canadian life and ambition. The space features glass-fibre-reinforced concrete seating around the perimeter and OverView — new Tilt Zone viewing areas that allow people to step up onto the ledge, lean out over the floor-to-ceiling glass, and float above the city. Because all materials were brought up using the elevator, the dimensions were dictated by stringent cab and hoisting limitations. Working in collaboration with an accessibility specialist, we designed beyond best practices to provide a deeply inclusive experience that supports a diverse range of visitors and align with Rick Hansen Foundation Gold Certification standards.

Our design integrates sophisticated AV components: a 40-foot-long, floor-to-ceiling curved video wall as well as two 40-by-3.5-foot panoramic screens; three large-format interactive video displays with assistive listening via infrared loops concealed in the floor; and satellite speakers that provide distributed sound. The video wall was designed for Artmosphere, an immersive art program that showcases original works by Canadian and Indigenous artists. Curated by Ela Hulsti, the carpet features artwork inspired by the four sacred medicines of the medicine wheel — tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweet grass — honouring Indigenous knowledge and encouraging reflection and respect.

Images: doublespace photography, Tom Arban, and Michael Davidson