The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II - Page 491

taal · #**9801** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 4:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

MCC is not really the best example of great suburban intensification in Toronto... in fact I'd argue its one of the worst. North York City Centre & Downtown Markham are much better. Thornhill City Centre and Vaughan Centre are now starting to emerge so we'll see what happens with them. I predict Thornhill will be a flop as its not a major transit node like the others are.

I'll go out on a limb and claim that North York City Centre is the best example of urbanized suburbia in all of Canada.

My issue with NYCC is that it is so very linear ... everything is concentrated on Yonge, sure Doris and the similar side street on the west side are built up with many condos / rentals (with more coming all the time), there is nothing off Yonge retail / destination wise so to speak.

The giant community center / library /swimming pool / large public square at the old city hall is an amazing assert for the area though, I'll give it that.

travis3000 · #**9802** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 4:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

MCC has the benefit of being a transit junction and the core of a 700k municipality... but unlike DT Markham or Vaughan Centre it won't have GO RER access.

I personally predict that Vaughan Centre will become a very successful urban node, possibly overtaking NYCC as the best postwar urbanity in the country. It's got incredible transit links--the junction of subway, GO RER, and three BRT corridors enabling easy access to huge swaths of the GTA.

To me street life is more important than skyline, and that's why I believe NYCC to be the best postwar urbanity in Canada. Walk around Yonge & Sheppard and you'll never know you're in postwar areas.

I agree . NYCC is like a city in itself with a skyline , great transportation access, and overall a great urban feel to it. I recently brought a few friends to NYCC and their first response was "umm so where are we right now". I told them they are still in Toronto . They were shocked how urban it felt , giving a very city feel with the canyon of buildings down Yonge st.

logan5 · #**9803** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 5:24 PM**

Yeah, a better comparison to Metrotown is NYCC. Once Sears redevelops its parking lots, Metrotown will look pretty much the same as North York. That being said, I don't particularly like North York or Metrotown. Continuous walls of glass make for a pretty bland environment. One advantage Metrotown has over North York is population density, so maybe it will turn out to be a little more urban.

caltrane74 · #**9804** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 5:43 PM**

North York Centre - (on the Street Outdoors/Not inside /underground) is at it's best on a weekday 9-6ish, in the summer. Very vibrant and busy. Weekends are another story, but it depends on if there is something happening at the civic square as well as the weather.

Delirium · #**9805** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 6:26 PM**

But NYCC is Toronto so it's not an apples to apples comparison with Burnaby which is a completely separate city from Vancouver. You can't keep using this 'pre-amalgamation' thing forever. It's been 16 years...

Chadillaccc · #**9806** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 6:36 PM**

No freakin kidding.

A beautiful shot by Jimby in the Calgary section.

View from the Esker Gallery by LUMIN8, on Flickr

1overcosc · #**9807** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 6:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium

But NYCC is Toronto so it's not an apples to apples comparison with Burnaby which is a completely separate city from Vancouver. You can't keep using this 'pre-amalgamation' thing forever. It's been 16 years...

Municipal borders completely irrelevant, as they're not really comparable in cities. I fail to see how North York being part of Toronto proper and Burnaby not being part of Vancouver proper has any bearing on the status of NYCC vs. Metrotown. They're just arbitrary lines on the map that put places inside certain municipalities, they have no bearing on the reality of the ground. North York and Burnaby are both suburban areas, containing mostly post-war with pre-war nodes, and containing an modern urbanized node at their centre. It's very apples-to-apples to compare the two.

If Vancouver annexed Burnaby tomorrow, or if North York seceded from Toronto tomorrow, would that magically change how NYCC and Metrotown stack up to each other? Not at all. NYCC has been a pinnacle of postwar urbanity since the 1980s... before North York even built out, let alone annexed by Toronto. It's not like amalgamation of TO suddenly sparked NYCC.

Ottawa developing a huge urban node in North Gower (inside its city limits) would be way more impressive than, say, Toronto developing a large urban node in Ajax (outside city limits) because Ajax is suburban whereas North Gower is rural, way beyond the edges of the urban area.

Klazu · #**9808** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 6:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium

^ very true however, even though Metrotown mall is larger than Square one (both in stores and sq/ft), its parking lot footprint is significantly smaller than Square one. Makes for a more compact city centre.

Photo http://www.collierscanada.com/services/P...4ec&bid=1b0781bd49034f419627c014f9bb46d7

That Metrotown aerial has been taken just before all the recent developments really kicked off and by end of next year this view will has been added with close to 15 new towers. And that doesn't include the Sears re-development which may add 7 more skyscraper height towers in five years time.

Metrotown two years ago and five years from now will look nothing alike, that fast the development is.

1overcosc · #**9809** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 6:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan5

Yeah, a better comparison to Metrotown is NYCC. Once Sears redevelops its parking lots, Metrotown will look pretty much the same as North York. That being said, I don't particularly like North York or Metrotown. Continuous walls of glass make for a pretty bland environment. One advantage Metrotown has over North York is population density, so maybe it will turn out to be a little more urban.

They're both rather tacky in appearance, NYCC more so in my opinion. But the urbanity in NYCC is as of yet unrivalled. We'll see what will happen in the future.

Martin Mtl · #**9810** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:03 PM**

Source

Tlaffin · #**9811** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:14 PM**

Nice pics, Martin. Doubt that everyone would agree, but I like the green lighting on Complexe Desjardins.

Tlaffin · #**9812** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:14 PM**

Oh, and nice to see Altitude starting to light up!

Martin Mtl · #**9813** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tlaffin

Nice pics, Martin. Doubt that everyone would agree, but I like the green lighting on Complexe Desjardins.

It's much more dramatic on pictures than in reality though.

Boris2k7 · #**9814** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

No freakin kidding.

A beautiful shot by Jimby in the Calgary section.

View from the Esker Gallery by LUMIN8, on Flickr

The West end of Inglewood is really underdeveloped IMO. Too many gaps in the streetwall. Also, between the parking meters, the light stands, and the black planters, the sidewalk can be annoying to navigate.

Chadillaccc · #**9815** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:27 PM**

Thankfully there is an incredible amount of developments proposed and UC in the neighbourhood that shuld fix the street wall issues. More people on the street will also = new revitalization initiatives (removal of hideous planters).

Prometheus · #**9816** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 7:55 PM**

North York City Centre and Metrotown make an interesting comparison.

When you stand on Yonge Street, North York City Centre has a bigger city feel than when you stand on Kingsway in the heart of Metrotown. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Skytrain was built not along Kingsway (i.e., the main arterial roadway and traditional commercial centre of Metrotown) but a couple of blocks south of Kingsway along an old rail right-of-way.

So, instead of all the incentives for development being concentrated along Metrotown's main roadway and natural commercial centre, as you have in North York where the subway runs directly underneath Yonge Street, developmental forces in Metrotown have been split into two. Therefore, the forces of development that most naturally exist along Kingsway have been greatly diluted for the last 30 years by the gravitational pull of the highly convenient but non-ideally located Skytrain line a couple blocks away.

In the following photos, Kingsway is on the right and Skytrain is on the left:

1982 - a few years before Skytrain was built. You can see the old rail right-of-way instead:

http://www.globalairphotos.com/large/BC/Burnaby/Metrotown/1982/003/2

1997 - there are now numerous residential towers and two commercial towers along the Skytrain line that probably would have been built along Kingsway:

http://www.globalairphotos.com/large/BC/Burnaby/Metrotown/1998/032/2

2013 - residential towers with commercial podiums are now being built on the other side of the Skytrain station and a third commercial tower has been built:

http://www.globalairphotos.com/large/BC/Burnaby/Metrotown/2013/0235/2

Architype · #**9817** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 8:23 PM**

Here's an article of interest from the Vancouver Sun; it also mentions this website:

Quote:

Vancouver rises to new heights

The city is listed ninth in the world with its total of 663 highrises
...

VANCOUVER — Vancouver in recent years has risen to the top tier of the world’s cities with the largest number of skyscrapers.

According to skyscraperpage.com, Vancouver is listed ninth in the world with a total of 663 highrises. That number becomes more intriguing, however, when you compare the populations of the cities on the list, which include the likes of New York City (No. 1 with 5,894 highrises and a population of 8.17 million), and Toronto (No. 2 with 2,005 highrises and a population of 2.61 million).

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/com...story.html?__lsa=33a0-d479#ixzz38KCB3npR

Delirium · #**9818** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 10:27 PM**

^ i don't think that's the first time either is it?

here's a different view of downtown

Photo by jmv on Flickr https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2902/...4b376337_h.jpg

Photo by JenChenPhotography https://www.flickr.com/photos/126089367@N06/14725618081/sizes/h/

Calgarian · #**9819** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 10:33 PM**

SSP represent!

Nouvellecosse · #**9820** Posted **Jul 23, 2014, 10:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium

But NYCC is Toronto so it's not an apples to apples comparison with Burnaby which is a completely separate city from Vancouver. You can't keep using this 'pre-amalgamation' thing forever. It's been 16 years...

They're actually are a very good comparison. Vancouver city limits just covers a smaller proportion of the metro area population at about 1/4 compared to over 1/3 in Toronto. But the similirities that they share that neither shares with centres like MCC is that they're both on the oldest and busiest rapid transit line in the metro area, so no doubt the development patterns are greatly influenced by that. Not having that makes intensification of other such centers much more challenging.