The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Beedok]

I like Montreal for the overall balance of the skyline. From a lot of angles Toronto is flat and then peak and then flat again. Calgary has a massive cliff and typically the skyline's depth is hidden (from a few angles though I like it better than Toronto, others focus on buildings I don't much like and drop it massively). Vancouver and Ottawa are pretty well a plateau. Montreal to me grows gently to a central point, with enough of an increase to not be a plateau but not enough to make buildings look out of place. I fine Winnipeg also manages a similar overall form. Edmonton is somewhere between Montreal and Toronto for steepness.

I know it's not very qualitative, but I like it when the whole skyline feels like it's working together to create an image. (Though Hamilton and Quebec City's method of ignore any semblance of skyline and just tossing buildings up wherever creates a very unique look.)

And to appease the photo gods: A photo by Chadillac that Google thinks is the #1 Great Canadian Skyline on this website.


Obviously Google has very unique taste.

[Ramako]

Warm AM Light by Rodrick Dale, on Flickr



Toronto-Morning-1 by its_seb, on Flickr

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[craner]

Great shots guys - love that angle of TO. Royal Bank Plaza looks phenomenal.

[niwell]

It's crazy how tall Aura looks from that angle considering it's up on Gerrard. I suppose it's on higher ground to begin with.

Reminds me of when a friend from Ottawa was in town the other weekend and he kept commenting on how tall that one tower was outside of downtown from almost every vantage point. Point being - Aura is effing big. (no design comments).

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by Beedok

And to appease the photo gods: A photo by Chadillac that Google thinks is the #1 Great Canadian Skyline on this website.


Obviously Google has very unique taste.

LMFAO! I am simultaneously honoured, shocked, and appalled by Google's decision. Especially that photo! My mouse hovered over the "delete" button more than once during the editing process.

[leftimage]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

LMFAO! I am simultaneously honoured, shocked, and appalled by Google's decision. Especially that photo! My mouse hovered over the "delete" button more than once during the editing process.

It looks like Laval. Just awful. It better not be in Calgary proper...

[leftimage]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

I was in Montreal last month, I can't wait to get back there in the spring.

IIRC you hadn't been in quite a while prior to your last visit. Sounds like she put you under her spell this time. If that's the case, welcome to the club

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Calgary's skyline offers incredible diversity and I think if the current boom continues in 20 years Calgary will outshine Toronto in the skyline dept.

Calgary's skyline will continue it's great diversity in all aspects of design and if Toronto's skyline, if it too continues like it has for the last 20 years, will be nothing more than a bigger version of Southcore and CityPlace.

I like Calgary's skyline as well, but you're not looking very closely if you think it offers more diversity than Toronto's. Toronto has 100m+ towers from every era from 1900 onwards. City Place and Southcore aren't my cup of tea either, but represent a fairly small part of the overall skyline.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by niwell

It's crazy how tall Aura looks from that angle considering it's up on Gerrard. I suppose it's on higher ground to begin with.

Quite right, and there's nothing particularly tall in that area.

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by leftimage

IIRC you hadn't been in quite a while prior to your last visit. Sounds like she put you under her spell this time. If that's the case, welcome to the club

Big Cosmopolitan City, relatively close to Toronto, inexpensive to get to and don't even need a passport to get there.

Its a no-brainer! I should have been going there a lot more, not gonna make that mistake again.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I like Calgary's skyline as well, but you're not looking very closely if you think it offers more diversity than Toronto's. Toronto has 100m+ towers from every era from 1900 onwards. City Place and Southcore aren't my cup of tea either, but represent a fairly small part of the overall skyline.

Yeah, Toronto also has just about every colour of the rainbow and every type of building material. I question comparing recent booms in both cities as well. If all Toronto has built is blue glass buildings than so too has Calgary. There's a lot more to Toronto's boom than what gets posted on SSP and likewise to Concord's Cityplace and the glass city of Southcore with a far larger range of colour than just blue

[TownGuy]

Calgary having more diversity in its skyline than Toronto is laughable. Toronto has been building 700+ ft since the 60s and, as has been mentioned, building skyscrapers since the 1900s. Calgary also has no Art Deco which many would consider the golden age of skyscraper building. The only city that could make a claim of more diversity than Toronto would be Montreal.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by leftimage

It looks like Laval. Just awful. It better not be in Calgary proper...

It's Kitchener.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I've always thought that Toronto's skyline is one that looks best at night. The CN Tower is wonderful and the sheer massive size of it and large number of tall buildings can't help but impress. It's when daylight comes that it goes from a 9 to a 3 dressed up as a 9 because when the sun shines you actually get to see those towers and all those new blue glass buildings of Waterfront and Southcore blend in together in a big blob with nothing to differentiate one from the other.

Vancouver's setting is spectacular and the density is obvious but, despite some recent improvements, it uninspires. Nearly all condo towers of the same width and height. That's the problem with have such strict height and footprint rules...........development goes utilitarian, Functional but, like Vancouver itself, monotonous and lacking in character.

Montreal's I've always loved as it's skyline looks it has aged well without the McDevelopments of Toronto and Vancouver.

Calgary, though, impresses me not only for it's large size, especially considering the city's relative small size but the variety of height, design, colour, materials......Toronto would be 10X better if the last 20 years followed Calgary's diversity rather than the blue-glass sterile monotony path it choose instead. Calgary's skyline offers incredible diversity and I think if the current boom continues in 20 years Calgary will outshine Toronto in the skyline dept.

Calgary's skyline will continue it's great diversity in all aspects of design and if Toronto's skyline, if it too continues like it has for the last 20 years, will be nothing more than a bigger version of Southcore and CityPlace.

I disagree . You aren't giving Toronto nearly enough credit. We have some incredible towers going up right now such as One Bloor (nicer than any building in Calgary save for The Bow) and the ice towers are pretty unique , the L Tower, Massey Tower, Ernst & Yonge Tower, etc. There is no way in hell Calgary will over take Toronto in the skyline department . There's literally a huge diverse number of 150m+ towers both approved and proposed here. When you have 50+ towers of course some of them are going to be bad, but there's also some quality buildings going up. Comments like that show you don't really have a true idea of what's going on here in Toronto.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by travis3000

I disagree . You aren't giving Toronto nearly enough credit. We have some incredible towers going up right now such as One Bloor (nicer than any building in Calgary save for The Bow) and the ice towers are pretty unique , the L Tower, Massey Tower, Ernst & Yonge Tower, etc. There is no way in hell Calgary will over take Toronto in the skyline department . There's literally a huge diverse number of 150m+ towers both approved and proposed here. When you have 50+ towers of course some of them are going to be bad, but there's also some quality buildings going up. Comments like that show you don't really have a true idea of what's going on here in Toronto.

I totally agree, some people like to make simple comments that just are not true. There is a lot of diversity in Toronto's buildings, new and old. To say that everything is all blue glass is just stupid and ignorant of the facts.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Beedok

It's Kitchener.

And might I add, that Kitchener scene is a 1000 times better than anything in Laval. No contest.

[1overcosc]

Honestly, I love CityPlace/SouthCore. It looks so futuristic and sleek.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Spoolmak

Im really not trying to start anything, but other than the old architecture, what is so great about Montreals skyline?

Well, believe it or not, but "old architecture" is kinda important...

It's like saying, other than the warm weather and the ocean, what's so great about southern California?

Or "other than the tall buildings, what's so great about Toronto's skyline?"

The fact that Montreal's skyline has Art Deco and International style skyscrapers visible in it, and is quite mixed, unlike other blander skylines of this country, seems to be relevant -- not even necessarily my opinion, there are various unrelated posts in the last few pages of this thread about that factor being one of its skyline's main qualities.

[Chadillaccc]

Is the argument over? Yayyyy!