The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[middeljohn]

I remember when you could still see the skydome from most angles across the lake. The skyline has grown a lot!

[MTLskyline]

Downtown Montreal by ninwin, on Flickr

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I don't want to be a downer, but I can't be the only one who thinks Toronto from the north is still its worst angle. Too many buildings with a thin profile from Yorkville.

I much prefer it to the view from the lake as you can actually see the city and all its layering. The view from the south is basically a wall of buildings that hides 80% of the city and you have those wretched condos next to Harbour Castle ruining the whole thing. The best view is from the west, 2nd best from the north. The worst is from the east.

[travis3000]

The south view is the best. The reflection onto the lake makes it magical, plus the Southcore and Cityplace skylines have merged with the downtown creating one massively impressive view. Plus there are several more big buildings coming to this view (Harbour Plaza twins, One York, Ten York, 88 Scott, Massey Tower, Ernst & Yonge Tower, etc) with a long term agenda of possibly 156 Front, Union Tower, 1 Yonge project, Mirvish trio, Cityplace Signature Towers. This south view is going to be insane 10 years from now. It's the view where you can see the transformation of Toronto the best.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by isaidso

The best view is from the west, 2nd best from the north. The worst is from the east.

The north and west are my favourites too, but what's wrong with the eastern view?



one step ahead by ronnie.yip, on Flickr


Toronto from the east by ZensLens, on Flickr


http://www.themaxman.ca/

[caltrane74]

St. Lawrence Market is magical!! I love it... (even though it's lowrise, lol!!)

[SignalHillHiker]

You guys should post one of your favourite examples of each angle. I'm having trouble picturing what you mean. The east view looks great!

[Daveography]

Originally Posted by TallBob

Is that the new design for the Calgary Tower? LOL!

Yup. It will be built with an actual piece of the moon, too!

[SkahHigh]

Most skylines look nicer or bigger from certain angles. The best angle for Montreal is definitely east/southeast, but from the Champlain Bridge (south) it looks good too.

The view from the Belvedere (north), even though it is impressive, isn't the best though. West is the worst IMO.

[suburbanite]

The East view has to be my favourite with Scotia, 1 King west, Commerce Court, and L tower all showing their best sides and the nicely laid out brick neighbourhoods in the foreground. If you get the southeast perspective from the Port Lands there's also the added bonus of obscuring Trump from view.

[Beedok]

My favourite view of Toronto is the one from the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton because you can see the numerous other skylines in the area as well. More skylines is better.

[Mrs Sauga]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

The north and west are my favourites too, but what's wrong with the eastern view?

Looks great from those shots but I've also seen some not so great shots with St Jamestown in the foreground blocking Yorkville.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

From the deep freeze:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

Gorgeous

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by isaidso

The worst is from the east.

Eh? The drive down the DVP to the Gardiner gives you one of the world's greatest skyscraper vistas.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Eh? The drive down the DVP to the Gardiner gives you one of the world's greatest skyscraper vistas.

Agreed. Also, from the sky, it's a very textured view (St-Lawrence market neighbourhood + L-Tower).

[Dylan Leblanc]

^^^ pot legalized in Alberta

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

You guys should post one of your favourite examples of each angle. I'm having trouble picturing what you mean. The east view looks great!

We have a whole thread dedicated to that on SSC: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1672729

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

The north and west are my favourites too, but what's wrong with the eastern view?

I've been trying to put my finger on it for years. Why do I love the view from the west, but not the east? The only thing that makes sense to me is that the Don Valley creates this void of nothing where as on the other side you see a gradual step down and layering. There's also Cabbagetown in between so the high rises are a good 3 km away. The skyline appears smaller than it is. The buildings look much shorter than they are.

The view from the east always leaves me unimpressed.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

You guys should post one of your favourite examples of each angle. I'm having trouble picturing what you mean. The east view looks great!

WEST VIEW

My favourite view, by far, is from Etobicoke's Humber Bay. You get to see the whole length of the skyline, great layering down from the skyscrapers to the steadily shorter buildings, you still see the lake with a lovely green band of trees between the water and city, and it just looks 'balanced' if that makes any sense.


City by the Lake by Jack Landau, on Flickr

NORTH VIEW

This view from the north is still great because you see the the whole downtown, you can see city streets like Bay that give perspective, the CN Tower doesn't have a dwarfing effect because it's the distance rather than the forefront, there's great layering, and it looks balanced. The only negative is that you don't see any lake.


TO nights skyline by AlexanderAdams, on Flickr

SOUTH VIEW

The classic lake view is good, but it's gone down a few notches in my eyes since 2005 despite being much bigger. My eye is continually drawn to what I don't like: that terrible wall of 1970s 30 floor condos just west of the Westin Harbour Castle (on the right) and the sterile monotony of City Place (on the left). 80% of the city is blocked from view and the layering isn't as good as from the other angles. It's still good, but the views from the north and west are better.


Toronto Skyline by 태평양 과객, on Flickr

EAST VIEW

My least favourite view is from the east. Normally I love the juxtaposition of city and park, but in this case there's 3 km of 2-3 floor residential between the valley and the high rises. The result is that the city looks far smaller than it is, you don't get the fabulous layering one sees from the west, and the valley throws me off. Those 2 twins to the right of AURA are 50+ floors tall, but they look like stumps because they're so far away. The east view always looks unbalanced in my eyes.


Toronto at Dusk by akibamir9, on Flickr

Here's an extreme case of why I dislike the east view. Look how everything looks way smaller than it is. The CN Tower looks like it's 250m while FCP looks 100m tall.

EAST VIEW AGAIN

IMG_0627 by FollowF, on Flickr

[phesto]

Vancouver with Metrotown in the background:


Vancouver Skyline by ***roham***, on Flickr