Canadian Skyline Thread III

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Seeing the completed Sagrada Familia is on my bucket list. I saw it 21 years ago from outside, when it was half the current height. It also changes colours throughout the day from morning to night on the interior as a result of the large stained glass window walls. Mesmerizing architecture that actually feels spiritual, bridging the gap with nature and transcending generations that helped to build it. Gaudi was incredible.

...

I visited Sagrada Familia in 1976 (!). Really hoping to get back to Barcelona this winter specifically to see the completed basilica.

[cranes]

Waterloo

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/30122830/103-253-albert-street-waterloo

[kwoldtimer]

That last pic looks like someone wanted cheap and cheery but ended up with cheap. And kinda tacky. OK for a student ghetto, I guess, but real people have to look at it too.

[MolsonExport]

But man, those views of the skyline!

[Metro-One]

Please don't post pictures of Waterloo... (sorry, that's a little cheeky)

It looks like an Eastern European Soviet skyline, but the only building materials they had were LEGO.

The only faint praise I can give it is that somehow in North America it seemingly has sprung up in a vacuum that's never taken note of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Calgary, Victoria, Ottawa, Kelowna, or even Hamilton or London and has created a completely unique style.

Like, I instantly know when I'm looking at Waterloo.

[905er]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Please don't post pictures of Waterloo... (sorry, that's a little cheeky)

It looks like an Eastern European Soviet skyline, but the only building materials they had were LEGO.

The only faint praise I can give it is that somehow in North America it seemingly has sprung up in a vacuum that's never taken note of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Calgary, Victoria, Ottawa, Kelowna, or even Hamilton or London and has created a completely unique style.

Like, I instantly know when I'm looking at Waterloo.

I second that! It's literally painful looking at pictures of Waterloo. That's just inexcusable. Show me uptown, show me downtown....but please no more pictures of student housing in Waterloo. It's literally the fugliest 'new' shit in the country.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

But man, those views of the skyline!

Добро пожаловать в Нью-Уотерловски
Dobro pozhalovat' v N'yu-Uoterlovski

Welcome to New Waterlovsky

Waterloo - Showing the Russians how to build Post Soviet looking student housing

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Добро пожаловать в Нью-Уотерловски
Dobro pozhalovat' v N'yu-Uoterlovski

Welcome to New Waterlovsky

I was going to say what a breathtaking vista of Irkutsk!

The bright primary colours somehow make the soviet blocks even uglier and more alienating.

[Five Four]

With Waterloo's student housing, you can't tell what's old and what's new

[Gresto]

It would be much less annoying if he at least took his own pictures and didn't just lazily post stuff from Realtor.ca.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

The only faint praise I can give it is that somehow in North America it seemingly has sprung up in a vacuum that's never taken note of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Calgary, Victoria, Ottawa, Kelowna, or even Hamilton or London and has created a completely unique style.

I don't know about that (bolded part mine). But Waterloo is unique, especially in its scale of such developments.

[craner]

It really does look like Lego Land

[J.OT13]

Ottawa skyline shots from Rail Fans Canada video of the first train to Algonquin Station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4RzIRRY_4o

Near the intersection of Scott and Churchill, looking east towards Downtown.



Visible is Kichi Zìbì Station, looking east towards Downtown.



Sherbourne Station looking west.



New Orchard Station looking west.



End of the Parkway/Byron tunnel just before Lincoln Fields, looking west.



Lincoln Fields Station looking north.

[Docere]

While I know Calgary and Edmonton are basically the same size, but psychologically it's hard not to think of Calgary as the bigger city, fairly or not. The difference in the number of skyscrapers is about as wide as the gap between Seattle and Portland, say.

[Nouvellecosse]

^ Although Edmonton having a downtown subway while Calgary doesn't (yet?) gives Edmonton a big boost in that area, for me at least. Subway tunnels just psychologically seem so much more big city than surface LRT.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

^ Although Edmonton having a downtown subway while Calgary doesn't (yet?) gives Edmonton a big boost in that area, for me at least. Subway tunnels just psychologically seem so much more big city than surface LRT.

I like Calgary's above-ground stations aesthetically and in terms of accessibility but they're a bit of an odd choice in a city with a well-developed pedway system and severe climate. Maybe elevated, climate-controlled downtown stations would be better. Subway to plus-15 would be a big elevation change.

I would say Calgary feels bigger than Edmonton and clearly #4 in Canada but it's a mixed bag. The landmark office towers look like they are from a large city but the depth of mixed-use neighbourhoods is on par with what you'd find in smaller older city. Some of Calgary's office towers are as nice as some of Montreal's nicest towers, but Quebec City has stronger mixed-use areas than Calgary does. While there's obviously lots of infill happening it's a bit disjointed and maybe less than you might think, I guess because so many people buy suburban houses there.

[jc_yyc_ca]

Former helicopter pad now turned into basketball courts.

[DavidK93]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

^ Although Edmonton having a downtown subway while Calgary doesn't (yet?) gives Edmonton a big boost in that area, for me at least. Subway tunnels just psychologically seem so much more big city than surface LRT.

Calgary feels far, bigger and busier than Edmonton to me. Three underground LRT stations isn’t enough to make any kind of a difference in that department. Maybe if it was a larger meshed underground metro system, but even then Calgary LRT is much busier and gives you a bigger city feeling just by the sheer number of people who use it.

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by someone123

I like Calgary's above-ground stations aesthetically and in terms of accessibility but they're a bit of an odd choice in a city with a well-developed pedway system and severe climate. Maybe elevated, climate-controlled downtown stations would be better. Subway to plus-15 would be a big elevation change.

It would seem an odd choice in today's situation, but keep in mind the system was designed in the late 70's when the city's population was around 475,000.

Here in Calgary, there has always been a debate on whether they should have tunneled the downtown portion, and there are good points made from both sides. As for the climate situation, they could have put two or three stations underground, but it would only be 2 or 3 out of 48, so in the end probably wouldn't have made much difference. As it is most of the downtown stations are near buildings where people can wait indoors on extreme weather days.

I actually prefer the stations above ground, mainly for what you had mention (accessibility) and the weather isn't an issue for me. My issue is that cars in the downtown core have the right of way over trains. If they could change that, I'd prefer they stayed above ground forever.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by jc_yyc_ca

It would seem an odd choice in today's situation, but keep in mind the system was designed in the late 70's when the city's population was around 475,000.

The choice makes sense historically but the city has grown a lot since then. I think the modern explanation has more to do with a lack of investment in transit infrastructure, despite healthy ridership, that has afflicted Canada since the 80s or so. The SkyTrain is like this too to some degree with some hub stations being modest. Montreal's subway is less like this, e.g., Lionel-Groulx.

In the US you see much more modest ridership with more capital investment and in comparatively wealthy parts of Europe (which for AB would be someplace like Switzerland or Norway) you see high ridership and superior capital investment.