Canadian Skyline Thread III

[Nouvellecosse]

Hopefully the new Robie/Young/Almon area will provide the additional height and variation some crave since fighting the Citadel height limits seem like a lost cause. You can still see that area poking up in the distance from a lot of places where people view the downtown skyline such as the ferry, Citadel Hill, MacD bridge, or the Dartmouth waterfront. And of course the Dartmouth side is building taller too.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Hopefully the new Robie/Young/Almon area will provide the additional height and variation some crave since fighting the Citadel height limits seem like a lost cause.

The downtown height limits make the skyline much worse than it otherwise could be but the street level experience is quite good and improving. Something like Queen's Marque doesn't look like much in the skyline but it's part of a little district with medium scale high quality masonry buildings including some major gems going back over 200 years. There are not a lot of areas like that in Canada. Halifax being Halifax the Georgian landmark still has MLAs parked on what looks more or less like strip mall parking inside the wrought iron fence but eventually stuff like that will be cleaned up and it'll be great.

[kool maudit]

I was there a few weeks ago. Downtown really is doing well. There is finally a building on that lot across from the TD tower on Barrington, the parking lots south of Spring Garden are nearly all full, things are looking good in Halifax.

[WhipperSnapper]

Taller towers requires more servicing on a constraint site leading to budgetary shortcuts. Halifax isn't easy with the extreme inclines and rock. The result in Kelowna is not enhancing the resort town or creating a Manhattan downtown neighbourhood. It's ugly like Brickell, Miami.

Halifax is looking good overall. Hate to see more like the massive fail block on the waterfront. IIRC, it's not tall. Fewer floors and fewer units requiring less parking and less spandrel reaching skyward would have turned out better.

[Harley613]

Ottawa this afternoon from Dow's Lake

[Harley613]

And another shot of Downtown Ottawa-Gatineau:

[scrapin]

Amazing photos as always everyone thank you!

[Wpg_Guy]

[MolsonExport]

^interesting shot. The stark contrast of the density along that stroad and the lack thereof elsewhere (other than the skyline way off in the distance) is palpable.

[Martin Mtl]

Photo: Daniel_88 sur le forum agoramtl.com

[giallo]

^ Fantastic! Montreal's skyline is looking incredible these days.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by giallo

^ Fantastic! Montreal's skyline is looking incredible these days.

It is. Tabletop schmable-top

[koops65]

Sorry, it's too flat...

[MolsonExport]

Mont Royal begs to differ.

[zoomer]

That Winnipeg photo is eye-catching and a spectacular/interesting view of downtown from that location.

On the other hand it feels very wrong. Why would anyone choose to live there? I mean, sure you have easy access to the highway.. At least if you’re going to live along a major road you’d want to be higher than the tree line to have a great view of the landscape and less traffic noise. I get it - with the affordable prices of SFH they can’t build expensive mid or high-rises here or even higher quality 4-6 storey buildings and I’m sure these are helping with affordability. I’m starting to see more commentators talking about how building density right beside highways or busy roads is wrong for many reasons - could they have just a little bit of a greenbelt of trees and built in behind that? That looks to be the case on the right hand side of the photo, but I don’t know how that looks/works in this location in terms of sustainable density. On the left side it doesn’t look possible as there is an established neighbourhood in behind. I dunno, still forming my thoughts on this..

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by zoomer

That Winnipeg photo is eye-catching and a spectacular/interesting view of downtown from that location.

On the other hand it feels very wrong. Why would anyone choose to live there? I mean, sure you have easy access to the highway.. At least if you’re going to live along a major road you’d want to be higher than the tree line to have a great view of the landscape and less traffic noise. I get it - with the affordable prices of SFH they can’t build expensive mid or high-rises here or even higher quality 4-6 storey buildings and I’m sure these are helping with affordability. I’m starting to see more commentators talking about how building density right beside highways or busy roads is wrong for many reasons - could they have just a little bit of a greenbelt of trees and built in behind that? That looks to be the case on the right hand side of the photo, but I don’t know how that looks/works in this location in terms of sustainable density. On the left side it doesn’t look possible as there is an established neighbourhood in behind. I dunno, still forming my thoughts on this..

If it's anything like here, the reason people want to live in such developments is because they don't want to be homeless. And an apartment in that setting is the only thing they can afford. If those are condos, the occupants likely can't afford to buy a condo closer in or in a nicer location, and if they're rentals, the tenants may not have the credit and/or down payment to buy at all. So they're forced to live out in the boonies and that is the only type of development permitted there since multi-family in outer areas is often not allowed anywhere other than major thoroughfares. In some suburban areas one isn't even permitted to have a secondary unit such as a basement apartment in a suburban house let alone a whole multi-family structure.

And yes I'm sure there are exceptions like someone who happened to want to live there since it's close to their job or to a family member, etc. but I'm just referring to macro trends.

[harls]

If anyone was trying to find out the POV of that Winnipeg pic, here it is.

[kool maudit]

Maybe Jean Drapeau was right and there should be some sort of tower on top of Mount Royal. If only for the lighting opportunities.

[Coldrsx]

https://x.com/apaulagetics/status/1831718081032532351

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

When you zoom out you really see how American-looking the prairie cities are compared to the rest of Canada. The 49th parallel isn't an architectural barrier like the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence are.