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Originally Posted by Klazu
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Amazing photos as always Klazu, you are such a fantastic urban photographer, you really capture things so well (as I'm sure you do with non-urban photography too lol, but the building/skyline photos are my interest).
I don't know if it's just the high quality of the photos themselves, but the two new Bosa towers on the riverfront in New West look better than the renderings shockingly. Usually the opposite happens, but the height, massing, and seemingly darker glass make them look quite impressive. I will have to go down in person and see if the reality is different, but in photos they turned out nice. Not only adding some good height, but also the first new towers to the area in a loooong time, most of the towers in that area are
very 80s/90s. I don't have a problem with that, ensures it doesn't have a Coal Harbour-esque monotony, but adding tall modern buildings is always welcome. I like the tower's close proximity to the water, not way back with a park in between lol. Icing on the cake is that it is replacing acres of ghastly surface parking, and incorporates/links with a new waterfront park, essentially finishing off the build-out of the entire waterfront (to the east is the SkyTrain bridge, so it's a hard boundary). Little bit Humber Bay style to the buildings, but the urban integration and build of New West around the new towers is so much better than Humber, which seems very artificially placed.
Not to mention the shockingly dense skyline shot facing north towards Saperton and the "North Road Corridor" beyond. I was actually just thinking the other day how I haven't really seen photos of North Rd. with the insane takeoff of tall condos and densification. I wasn't even sure if enough was built yet to demonstrate heft (I thought many buildings were still proposals and actual builds remained low). But this photo suggest otherwise, good quality photos/camera angle trickery can do some things, but it can't create that much density out of nowhere. And this is just what's built, the amount of new proposals is head spinning. It seems developers are much more comfortable in the area than in downtown Vancouver. The lead time from the rezoning/DP stage to project completion seems insanely long in Van, even along Cambie. But downtown is glacially slow, to the point where every project is viewed with suspicion because it's just inaction all the time. I know land is more scarce and expensive downtown, so the overall process bound to be longer than in the burbs (where you can mow down 6 old SF homes for a new condo). But the current situation seems excessive, the Butterfly is almost done now, with all of the proposals out there over the last few years, there definitely should be more happening than there is. Just shows the economics/market demographics are firmly favouring the burbs, but luckily this time it isn't only pushing people into sprawling SF neighbourhoods, it's into a burgeoning urban cluster. Same with Brentwood, Surrey Central, and Metrotown, it really is starting to show now. My two friends were visiting last week from Nova Scotia, after not being here since Dec. 2017. They always lived in downtown when they lived here 2007-2017, and didn't drive. But I drove, and would sometimes drive on outings to Surrey or Langley with them, using Hwy. 1. They aren't the skyline aficionado that I am, but even they noticed this time vs. 2016/17. They were shocked to look and see so many "downtowns" all of a sudden. And that didn't even show it well, or even all of them. But Metrotown especially could easily be considered a rival to many core cities' skylines.
Klazu please take some nice Richmond shots hehe, I'd be so grateful showing off the uniform table top, but also the tremendous density of highrises. The topography and height restriction obviously eliminates much creativity and skyline contrast, but it makes for such a a trippy effect to see. Having so many buildings stretch across a wide swath of the city, just continuous high-rises looking like a solid block, it's a different kind of appreciation. Aesthetically obviously debateable, but the sheer density and huge area covered by high-rises is deserving of some praise.
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