The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by isaidso

It looks nice but what surprises me is how lifeless the street is. For all that density and scale there's absolutely nothing at street level to engage a pedestrian. It looks more suburban than urban despite it all. It should have been so much more than it is. It's fixable though. This could one day be a vibrant street packed with people and a strong street apron of retail, businesses, restaurants, etc. It would involve re-developing the first 5-6 floors of every building on it though.

I actually agree with you. A big chunk of Vancouver's downtown core is made to be quiet for the residential district, which to me makes no sense because isn't the business the reason people choose to live downtown in the first place? But yeah, there are many areas of downtown that feel completely suburban, just with big apartment towers instead of houses.

[Chadillaccc]

Majenta skies over Calgary skyline by Martin Thielmann, on Flickr

[middeljohn]

^^^

Jesus, that shot is leaving me speechless.

[travis3000]

^ That shot makes Calgary look really small, Brookfield Place and Telus Sky are really going to help Calgary graduate into the big leagues IMO.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

From my balcony earlier this evening around 6pm

[ZeDgE]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

[img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8379/8675637291_c13e94ba72_b.jpg[img]
Majenta skies over Calgary skyline by Martin Thielmann, on Flickr

Must be like two years old no? Nice pic though.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by isaidso

It looks nice but what surprises me is how lifeless the street is. For all that density and scale there's absolutely nothing at street level to engage a pedestrian. It looks more suburban than urban despite it all. It should have been so much more than it is. It's fixable though. This could one day be a vibrant street packed with people and a strong street apron of retail, businesses, restaurants, etc. It would involve re-developing the first 5-6 floors of every building on it though.

That's Homer and Pacific. I don't think this area needs to be fixed because it's about a block away from the warehouse district in Yaletown, where there is plenty of retail, restaurants and bars.

[kw5150]

The Bow is almost the same height as Aura in Toronto. Not small at all.

Originally Posted by travis3000

^ That shot makes Calgary look really small, Brookfield Place and Telus Sky are really going to help Calgary graduate into the big leagues IMO.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by travis3000

^ That shot makes Calgary look really small, Brookfield Place and Telus Sky are really going to help Calgary graduate into the big leagues IMO.

That's also DT's narrowest angle. Calgary's skyline looks the most impressive viewed from either the North or the South. Telus Sky and Brookfield Place will just get lost in the jumble from this angle.

[Chadillaccc]

Actually Telus Sky will appear right between Brookfield Place and Suncor in that angle, partially blocked out by Brookfield though.

Originally Posted by kw5150

The Bow is almost the same height as Aura in Toronto. Not small at all.

The Bow is nowhwere near the height of Aura. They're about 35 meters apart. The Bow is still very tall by Canadian standards though. Still the 8th tallest of buildings completed and UC.

[Ramako]

In terms of size, you could swap out Commerce Court West in Toronto's skyline with the Bow to get a sense of how the skylines compare in size.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by RyanPatrick

LOVE the tree on the roof!

A cool little tidbit of info, the top of the tree is supposed to represent the top of the treeline when explorers first reached Vancouver.

A pretty cool way to visualize how massively tall the rainforests of coastal BC are.

[yaletown_fella]

Originally Posted by isaidso

It looks nice but what surprises me is how lifeless the street is. For all that density and scale there's absolutely nothing at street level to engage a pedestrian. It looks more suburban than urban despite it all. It should have been so much more than it is. It's fixable though. This could one day be a vibrant street packed with people and a strong street apron of retail, businesses, restaurants, etc. It would involve re-developing the first 5-6 floors of every building on it though.

I used to live on Marinaside Ct. While being on the water was great there wasn't any retail south of Pacific Blvd besides Provence,Starbucks,Urban Fare,Hurricane Grill and Scuie Cafe. Starbucks being the only place I'd go on a regular basis.

I guess you could compare it to living south of Lakeshore blvd.

[kw5150]

Yes......but Aura has a crown and the bow does not.

Ok, let me rephrase for the over-literal.

The bow is basically the same height as commerce court.

Here is a Calgary - Toronto, already built diagram comparison.

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

The Bow is nowhwere near the height of Aura. They're about 35 meters apart. The Bow is still very tall by Canadian standards though. Still the 8th tallest of buildings completed and UC.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

That's a residential neighbourhood. Given that the pic was taken during the day, it was probably between 9-5. You can't really judge the life of a neighbourhood when most of its residents aren't home.

it's not that, it's the look and feel of the street level form. weird plazas and stuff, wide roads. not much to catch the eye, not much variation.

[caltrane74]

I have never seen a picture of Calgary which didn't impress me.

Straight up truth.

[Chadillaccc]

lol really? I don't even think I could say that.

Originally Posted by kw5150

Yes......but Aura has a crown and the bow does not.

Ok, let me rephrase for the over-literal.

The bow is basically the same height as commerce court.

Here is a Calgary - Toronto, already built diagram comparison.

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?

In order to post a link to a diagram, you have to click the "diagram URL" link on the page once you've formulated the diagram. Your link just brings us to the base diagram page. Here is the one you meant though,

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=63239834

It's pretty impressive though, Calgary has 2 of the top 10, and 5 of the top 15!

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by middeljohn

That's a residential neighbourhood. Given that the pic was taken during the day, it was probably between 9-5. You can't really judge the life of a neighbourhood when most of its residents aren't home.

Yes I know, but it's downtown. It should be retail, commercial, restaurants on the first 4-5 floors and residential above.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I actually agree with you. A big chunk of Vancouver's downtown core is made to be quiet for the residential district, which to me makes no sense because isn't the business the reason people choose to live downtown in the first place? But yeah, there are many areas of downtown that feel completely suburban, just with big apartment towers instead of houses.

Are attitudes about what downtown should be changing in Vancouver? As Vancouver grows, I feel many of these developments will be looked at quite negatively. I wonder if it's even possible to buy out the lower floors and convert down the road. I imagine the economics of running a business on the lower floors would make this do-able. Getting condo owners to sell in order to redevelop the lower floors is another matter.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by travis3000

^ That shot makes Calgary look really small, Brookfield Place and Telus Sky are really going to help Calgary graduate into the big leagues IMO.

Calgary's skyline seems to be in this middle zone. It doesn't quite give one the impression of a big metropolis, but it's not small either. You echo my sentiments that Calgary is on the verge of becoming one of north America's big city skylines. When Brookfield and Telus go up I might have to move Calgary as high as #8.