The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[kw5150]

Nice pics everyone. Keep em coming!

[Symz]

Amazing Toronto shot!

What angle would you guys say is the best for Toronto?

[suburbanite]

I like anything from the East/Southeast. You get Scotiaplaza, TD tower, and depending on the angle Royal Bank plaza in the foreground. Since Commerce Court and Scotia plaza stretch North to South, it also from this side looks denser.

It also emphasizes how the skyline stretches from the water all the way down Yonge Street.

[AB Born]

This past weekend my wife and I visited Vancouver for the 1st time, staying at the Hyatt, 31st floor.

Awesome city... and a lot of rain, which felt cold to me, I guess I'm used to the dryness of Calgary.


Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


******

and from the plane on the way home - back to Calgary... It's nice that it's only an hour between Calgary and Vancouver!


Vancouver from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Vancouver from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr

****
Calgary about 50 mins later
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Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr


Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr

[Calgarian]

Great shots, I love flying from Calgary to Vancouver, sure beats that 11 hour drive, especially in the winter!

It's a funny thing about DT Calgary, it's about the same size as DT Vancouver, but always looks much smaller from the air. I think the fact that the CBD has so many very large buildings completely overshadows the Beltline (which is getting good density, but has a long way to go).

[Empire]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

True enough, but on a metric level it's:

Toronto
Calgary
Vancouver
Montreal

True enough, but the odd building topping a metric scale does not a skyline make.

Toronto
Montreal
Vancouver
Calgary

[bolognium]

Completely agree with Empire's list. Calgary has an awesome skyline and craps all over most similar-sized cities, but I just can't put it above Montreal or Van.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by AB Born

Vancouver Feb 2012 by JordanW.ca, on Flickr

I like this shot.

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by AB Born

Calgary from the plane by JordanW.ca, on Flickr

Great picture!!!

[Rico Rommheim]

^ I agree.


+ the Bow is easily my favorite new canadian skyscraper. Shangri-la and and couple others in Vancouver come close.

[Vertigo3000]

Those shots of Calgary really show how great of a skyline it has for the size of it.

[Calgarian]

They also show how many ugly pre-cast buildings we put up in previous booms.

[vegeta_skyline]

I have to say I still disagree with Empire's list. The reason why I rank Calgary as Canada's 2nd best, is because of the hieght of the buildings in the core, their design which taken all together I prefer over Montreal's or Vancouver's most distinctive buildings (by distinctive I mean height wise) and because of their placement in relation to one another. I trend prefer skylines with peaks i.e Toronto & Calgary as opposed to plateau skylines Vancouver(Shangri-la is not enough to break this effect) & Montreal(while the cities tallest are separated by gaps they still form a plateau effect since they are almost the same height).
But that's just my personal preference.

At the same time I respect his opinion and eveyone else's who says Vancouver's or Montreal's skyline is ahead of Calgary's.
A little friendly debating is fine, but there are really no wrong answers to this question.

Also, by no means am I suggesting that Vancouver's or Montreal's skylines are ugly or weak or flawed. To the contrary I think they are all very distinct and impressive and as Canadians we should be proud of our cities. For instance I'm very interested in seeing renders of the next 500ft+ buildings being proposed for Vancouver or Montreal. Where as I could hardly care less about some super tall going up half way across the planet. Canada is just where my heart is at.

[caltrane74]

The same logic that people use to rank Chicago's Skyline highly is the same reason why I rank Calgary's skyline highly.

It has the tallest and the most tall office towers after Toronto.

Vancouver has the amazing setting and Montreal the amazing urbanity, but Toronto and Calgary have the hands down tallest towers. That is the most base way to rank skylines, but I also think its the most fair. It takes subjectivity and bais out of the calculation.

[logan5]

The North Shore mountains stand at over 4700 ft. and feature prominently in Vancouver's skyline. Why shouldn't our natural landscape be allowed to synthesize with our urban landscape to form what some might say is the #1 skyline in Canada.

[Ramako]

For me a skyline is the collective profile that a city's towers make against the background sky. Whether or not that background sky is instead filled by mountains makes no difference to my opinion of the skyline.

If we want to talk about what city has the best natural setting, there's no doubt that it's Vancouver, but if we're talking about the skyline in and of itself, I couldn't care less about the setting.

[agrant]

Originally Posted by vegeta_skyline

I have to say I still disagree with Empire's list. The reason why I rank Calgary as Canada's 2nd best, is because of the hieght of the buildings in the core, their design which taken all together I prefer over Montreal's or Vancouver's most distinctive buildings (by distinctive I mean height wise) and because of their placement in relation to one another. I trend prefer skylines with peaks i.e Toronto & Calgary as opposed to plateau skylines Vancouver(Shangri-la is not enough to break this effect) & Montreal(while the cities tallest are separated by gaps they still form a plateau effect since they are almost the same height).
But that's just my personal preference.
At the same time I respect his opinion and eveyone else's who says Vancouver's or Montreal's skyline is ahead of Calgary's.
A little friendly debating is fine, but there are really no wrong answers to this question.

Also, by no means am I suggesting that Vancouver's or Montreal's skylines are ugly or weak or flawed. To the contrary I think they are all very distinct and impressive and as Canadians we should be proud of our cities. For instance I'm very interested in seeing renders of the next 500ft+ buildings being proposed for Vancouver or Montreal. Where as I could hardly care less about some super tall going up half way across the planet. Canada is just where my heart is at.

So Vancouver could remove half the condos, add 2 or three strategically placed taller buildings, and it could move into the #2 spot! This got me thinking... what ratio of Calgary's downtown buildings are condos vs commercial? Anyone know? I think a lot of people have a preference for the clean looking commercial building. Understandable.

[caltrane74]

Get rid of 25% of the condos, get 2 or 3 office towers over 200 meters and we now have a toss up for #2 skyline in Canada IMO.

[bolognium]

London calls dibs on Vancouver's condo dregs. We'll happily accept them.

[vegeta_skyline]

Originally Posted by agrant

So Vancouver could remove half the condos, add 2 or three strategically placed taller buildings, and it could move into the #2 spot!

Uh, no... It doesn't quite work like that. The difference is obviously more than 2 or 3 buildings. Calgary has a dozen buildings above 160m tall and Vancouver has but one. That kind of height density looks impressive to me, especially with all those buildings grouped in closely together. And yes the clean aesthetics of their modern office buildings makes a difference as well.