The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[renthefinn]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Wow Calgary is really getting shit on these days in the Canada section. Seems like the more the city is progressing, the more it is bothering certain people.

"Downtown Calgary" might have ~250 restaurants listed on Urbanspoon, but that number does not include 211 restaurants within the Stephen Ave area alone, 52 in Chinatown, 19 in Eau-Claire, 100 in the west Beltine, 60 in East Beltine(Victoria Park), over 100 on 17th ave, and LOTS more in surrounding areas like Mission, Kensington, Bridgeland, and Inglewood.


Calgary easily has one of the best restaurant and coffee scenes in the country, and both of these scenes have been evolving very quickly. I suspect someone like Rusty can add a lot more to my response as well.

As much as you think Calgary might be getting shit on, I think the same is being done to Victoria. It is quite urban from my perspective, living in Vancouver, which I do consider quite urban for this country. Victoria is older than Vancouver though, and you do notice some of this in the core of the city, and it is much more walkable in the near core areas, than most of Vancouver's street car neighborhoods. It is a smaller city though so cannot compare with the core of Vancouver in terms of urbanity, but it is still respectable compared to other western Canadian cities.

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

It's not just high-end restaurants owned by celebrity chefs either though. There are a lot of really good restaurants across the price spectrum, with lots of cultural variety to chose from. Lots of independent restaurants too.

I follow Kelly Hrudey on Twitter (one the best guys on HNIC), and he is always providing great Calgary restaurant reviews, that guy eats out a lot! I've been to Saltlik once after reading his tweet, had a nice meal, and the best part was the cool pool room in the basement!

So, back to skylines, Regina of course! Nice angle by Williecb750 on Flickr.

[Razor]

Wow nice pics of Victoria above..It's a lot like Ottawa with the goth style common wealthy architecure.

I think I posted these in another section at one time, but I'll re-post.It's tuff to get a good vantage point from the Ontario side..Not all Sky-line , so may be breaking the rules of this thread.mmm Don't know how to get the pics up

Ottawa

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8549859483/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8549858801/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8549861871/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8549862299/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8550962236/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8549863693/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/93969055@N02/8550960000/

[Spring2008]

It's all good, Zoomer, I used to watch your show .

Regarding Victoria and Quebec City- I haven't been to either, but have spent some time in Montreal and Van.

I've been told from a few different people that they enjoyed Victoria/Quebec City better than their respective larger neighboring cities and recommended that I should check both of them out. That's not a knock against Van or Montreal as they're both nice cities.

I will eventually check out both of these smaller cities, but Europe keeps calling me back!

[logan5]

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&...H-SQEEp_ZHSl_BXrIbw&ust=1363150416565875

I can't find any numbers on downtown Victoria population, but judging by the satellite views, it's gotta be close to what the Beltline is.

The comparison is more of a compliment and not meant to be "shitting on" Calgary

[G.S MTL]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Hmm, needs more skyscrapers.

not the best angle

[G.S MTL]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

There will be lots of changes within this view over the next five years again:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpc1930/8548666602/sizes/l/in/photostream/

see its nice and all but the Bow?? ... I mean it looks soo MASSIVE. like Im trying to focus on the skyline but the Bow sticks out soo much.. looks like a huge water tank... NOT hating the skyline! ... most Calgarians here think we are always "BASHING" Calgary. Everyone is entitled to their own comments/opinions about anything.

[Calgarian]

I don't think the Bow looks out of scale there at all, from some angles for sure, but not that one. Maybe it's because you can see the entire tower?

[Calgarian]

Hamilton, please build some new buildings, the skyline is nice and all, but the buildings are just fugly! Awesome panos btw!

[G.S MTL]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I don't think the Bow looks out of scale there at all, from some angles for sure, but not that one. Maybe it's because you can see the entire tower?

Maybe! other angle it would probably look better.

[Chadillaccc]

Hmm interesting. A dude a dated a bit when I first moved to Calgary works at Saltlik. I should try it out sometime if it's a cool place!

Originally Posted by zoomer

I follow Kelly Hrudey on Twitter (one the best guys on HNIC), and he is always providing great Calgary restaurant reviews, that guy eats out a lot! I've been to Saltlik once after reading his tweet, had a nice meal, and the best part was the cool pool room in the basement!

So, back to skylines, Regina of course! Nice angle by Williecb750 on Flickr.

[G.S MTL]

MONTREAL BY 2016 so far !.. I did my best in editing it with some buildings lol

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

see its nice and all but the Bow?? ... I mean it looks soo MASSIVE. like Im trying to focus on the skyline but the Bow sticks out soo much.. looks like a huge water tank... NOT hating the skyline! ... most Calgarians here think we are always "BASHING" Calgary. Everyone is entitled to their own comments/opinions about anything.

I can see your point, but for me anyways, walking inside of this tower and seeing it up close, especially from the south, you really notice all of the details in this building, and why it cost $1.4 billion to build. It's just stunning in person, and the inside shops etc. aren't even done yet. I can only wish Calgary gets a couple other towers of this high caliber.


Also, regarding skyline not being balance-a new 247m tallest,225 Sixth, about 2 blocks to the right of The Bow in that pic is pretty close to beginning construction.

More west you can add City Centre 1 and 2, and 3Eau-Claire, which are all 160-170m and will be very visible from the north because they're all pretty close to the water. All 3 are either u/c or highly likely to begin construction this year as well.

There is also speculation of a 7 tower RTKL designed urban village for the 2 lots in front of Centennial in the works, along with a new tallest(taller than 225 Sixth), and a few other mystery projects for the downtown, but unfortunately everybody in the know is keeping really tight lipped about things right now.

Edit- here's a future skyline pic by CtrlAltDel excluding the rumored RTKL urban village, Eau-Claire redevelopment village, and some west-end condos. Even if it turns out like below, I'd be happy.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=127611&page=36

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

MONTREAL BY 2016 so far !.. I did my best in editing it with some buildings lol

Impressive!

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

Maybe! other angle it would probably look better.

The Bow does looks better from certain angles, but some angles not so much. I don't care for the look of the Bow from the northeast, it simply looks out of proportion.

I think once 225-6th ave gets built it will help balance out the look of the skyline from the north/northeast.

[Surrealplaces]

I may have been a bit hasty in posted that. It wasn't meant to be disparaging to Victoria, just that I think everybody on the forum here has different ideas of what makes a city feel urban. Some people like myself include the 'big city' feel into an urban experience.

Take places like Squamish or Lunenburg... very walkable, and a very high percentage of restaurants/cafes for a place of their population. On a per-capita basis they would be more urban than Toronto or Montreal, but for someone like me the 'big city' feel wouldn't be a part of the equation obviously.

Originally Posted by zoomer

I apologize Spring2008, if I came across as crapping on Calgary. Too put my comments in context, I should have quoted this previous post.

The area of downtown Victoria is very small, and for this area to have as many restaurants as it does is impressive. Especially for a city with a population 3 times smaller than Calgary. Yes, I have heard lots of about Calgary's coffee shops as well, and the high end restaurants owned by chef celebrities.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

MONTREAL BY 2016 so far !.. I did my best in editing it with some buildings lol

Impressive indeed, it'll be even more impressive once you add the CRCHUM, CHUM, the other 2015-2016 projects like le Victoire (95m), Point Zero (125m) and the 20 or so 15-20 storey buildings in griffintown

[kw5150]

Not bashing Montreal, but what is with all of the fugly towers? And why do they build so skinny? '
What is with that 1000 de La Gauchetière? Man, that thing is totally out of proportion.
It should have been 20 stories taller. It looks so stubby.

Time for something a little less bland and traditional Montreal.

Just my opinion!

Originally Posted by G.S MTL

MONTREAL BY 2016 so far !.. I did my best in editing it with some buildings lol

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

There will be lots of changes within this view over the next five years again:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpc1930/8548666602/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Love this shot of Calgary!

[Surrealplaces]

Calgary Peace Bridge at blue hour by Imran Hayat, on Flickr


False Creek, Vancouver 2012 by Gord McKenna, on Flickr