The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Klazu]

Some Coal Harbour and West End cityscape shots from the 23rd floor of Palais Georgia tower. Many 40-50 storey towers will be going up along West Georgia street in the future.



The Lions twin towers along West Georgia Street.


West Pender Place tower is right next door.




The intersection of West Georgia and Pender Street is very busy and noisy. A big minus for any building in the area.


West Georgia Street entering Stanley Park. The busiest strech of road in Downtown.


1500 West Georgia office will in the future see tall towers being built around it. I quite like this 90s office building.


23rd floor panorama of area.

[SignalHillHiker]

Gorgeous. It's like... communism that worked? Homogeneous but beautiful.

[scrapin]

Absolutely incredible Vancouver shots in the last couple pages, thank you very much!

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Gorgeous. It's like... communism that worked? Homogeneous but beautiful.

Yeah, those buildings look all so alike... bland nondescript glass towers.

Individually, any one of them in different surroundings would be fine, but I can't help but find that endless sea of them unappealing to the eye. A bit of variety would've been nice.

Maybe it'll age well, but I'm not sure.

[prat]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Prat was that shot last night or the night before? The moon has been very yellow the last couple nights. Glad someone was there to capture it in such an amazing way.

Edit: It's unusual how the edges of the moon ripple in this picture. I didn't think it would the same way as the sun does.

It was shot on Friday, so technically one day after the true full moon I believe.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by lio45

Yeah, those buildings look all so alike... bland nondescript glass towers.

Individually, any one of them in different surroundings would be fine, but I can't help but find that endless sea of them unappealing to the eye. A bit of variety would've been nice.

Maybe it'll age well, but I'm not sure.

I actually like the effect, simply because there's glass. And, despite what I say next below, come on? If you were having a house party, would you ever choose anything in most of our cities over a nice, floor-to-ceiling condo in Vancouver? It's awesome there in so many ways.

The only part that kills me is that, at street level... for me, that might as well be a big box store parking lot. And this one: http://vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/georgia_street_ylhaalta.jpg That's basically rural. Towers or not. That would feel like Little Harbour East to me. That's how it feels to me, looking at it. And I can't stand that... I need street-front density. I'd rather a low-slung Ottoman bazaar with buildings one floor high than that.

But the weird thing is my brain is so easy to trick. Like Halifax's new TD reclad... they're keeping a heritage facade (or creating? I don't know if it's original or added) at street level, but the tower is glass. So you have the right street level, with Vancouver's style of beauty of top. That's the perfect balance to me.

So as Vancouver fills in at street level in these condo areas, it's going to end up SO far ahead. The part it's doing first is the hardest, most size-dependent part to do. I've no doubt that in a generation those exact areas pictured above will be perfect to me.

[Metro-One]

Funny, for most people the street level presence is what makes Vancouver.

It has by far the best gardening, landscaping, road / curb quality in the country for big cities (Vicotria wins in the gardening if expanded to smaller cities).

Other parts of the city have the more "eastern" feel of streetwalls. For me, this variety of urban form in the core makes Vancouver great.

I hope all the fantastic water features, gardens, boulevards, etc... are never taken away.

The only "suburban" aspects in those photos are the couple lots left to be developed (such as the White Spot and the gass station). Which are maybe the least dense parcels of land in all of downtown now outsdie of a park.

As for all the towers looking the same, call me crazy but I see this in nearly every city, just different styles of the same from their boom cycles. A lot of people love the 4/5 story Montreal blocks, but honestly to me they look increadibly the same, especially from the air, just grids of squares. Much of New York looks the same outside of its financial district, dont even get me started on Asian residential buildings...boring!!!!!

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

If you were having a house party, would you ever choose anything in most of our cities over a nice, floor-to-ceiling condo in Vancouver?

Depends what kind. For some things I'd choose a detached SFH with no nearby neighbors. A condo would be my very last choice.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

As for all the towers looking the same, call me crazy but I see this in nearly every city, just different styles of the same from their boom cycles. A lot of people love the 4/5 story Montreal blocks, but honestly to me they look increadibly the same, especially from the air, just grids of squares. Much of New York looks the same outside of its financial district, dont even get me started on Asian residential buildings...boring!!!!!

True, that's why I said that I wondered whether it would age well.

Maybe in a century people who are both history and architecture fans will absolutely love the intact neighborhoods of homogeneous early 21st century Van bluegreen glass condo towers. We can't know.

When those neighborhoods (pic below, ignore the tower) were new I assume some people back then were complaining about the new form of the city... all too identical, too overwhelming. And now most people like them.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by lio45

Depends what kind. For some things I'd choose a detached SFH with no nearby neighbors. A condo would be my very last choice.

Well, yeah, it depends on the party. If you need to run to the Money Mart to cash your welfare cheque to buy beer, you'd probably have more fun in St. John's than Vancouver.

But, if you want a cool place, nice view... you can't beat it. Except TO, because you have such huge city views - say a condo on the Gardener (sp? Or maybe entirely name? I could have it all wrong, lol).

Vancouver's awesome that way.

So, a few pics from friends of mine.

I assume somewhere in VAN (he lives there now):



TO, from her hotel:

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Well, yeah, it depends on the party. If you need to run to the Money Mart to cash your welfare cheque to buy beer, you'd probably have more fun in St. John's than Vancouver.

Another example, we have an upcoming bachelor party, probably next month or so, in my Sherbrooke uni group. We usually do them in exotic-ish places. (Last time in Manhattan. Previous time in California.) This time I'm providing a house in FL for it, 4 br 2 ba with inground pool.

I definitely wouldn't trade that place for a Vancouver condo for the purpose of this event. (Even though financially I would in a heartbeat; it's approximately worth the same as a two sq ft Vancouver closet.)

Sure, in any unit that's high enough in a condo tower there's probably the view that's nice, but the same can be said in most cities of a few million residents and more. Knowing you, though, for a St. John's style "party" I am pretty sure that a Vancouver condo wouldn't be the ideal spot. Where would you find a random George St drunk guy for the brawl?

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah, but, in Vancouver you have so many other condos doing the same thing. There's a kinship, comraderie. And the core itself - everything Metro One just described as his preferences, in the core, those work. And make Vancouver spectacular, even to my tastes.

And, then, the mountains. Rooftop pool? It'd beat Florida every time.

My parents head down there a couple times a year now to a friend's condo in St. Petersburg. Mom complains about it using, hilariously to me, the phrase "man-made Florida" meaning... stale, suburban, culture'less, etc. I had to explain to her man also made NYC, etc., that she loves.

"There's only so many times you can go to an outlet mall and not want to kill yourself. And conversation with the people there? I'd rather stay at home and chew the corner of the table."

[ozonemania]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

The only part that kills me is that, at street level... for me, that might as well be a big box store parking lot. And this one: http://vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/georgia_street_ylhaalta.jpg That's basically rural. Towers or not. That would feel like Little Harbour East to me. That's how it feels to me, looking at it. And I can't stand that... I need street-front density. I'd rather a low-slung Ottoman bazaar with buildings one floor high than that.

You're right, this 8-lane street is not really that great for street level activity, but it is also technically Highway BC-99, the main thoroughfare to cross the Lion's Gate Bridge and access to Highway 1.

It wasn't too long ago that whole street was peppered with gas stations and car dealerships. It still has a long way to go -- I'm hoping there are good plans for this area.

[scrapin]

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh it's got the big part done. The towers are there.

No one is ever going to object to a little street-level density if you preserve the trees and green areas around the sidewalks that people who buy into such areas want.

Imagine if you had a row/townhouse, Eastern-style street there, four lanes wide. Trying to add towers? They'd drag your body through the streets.

You've got the hard part done. And it's going to fill in. It clearly already is, based on your comment.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

My parents head down there a couple times a year now to a friend's condo in St. Petersburg. Mom complains about it using, hilariously to me, the phrase "man-made Florida" meaning... stale, suburban, culture'less, etc. I had to explain to her man also made NYC, etc., that she loves.

It's been forever since I last went to the Tampa area so maybe she's right and it sucks. To each its own. I personally love FL, and sure wouldn't trade it for mountains.

However, I should point out to your mom that everything that's great about St. John's is man-made. (Undercutting that point a bit is the fact that the Rooms is also man-made, and without the men who greenlighted the thing, it wouldn't be there.)

[lio45]

Originally Posted by ozonemania

You're right, this 8-lane street is not really that great for street level activity, but it is also technically Highway BC-99, the main thoroughfare to cross the Lion's Gate Bridge and access to Highway 1.

That street can't shrink, but with that width it can easily become a useful mix of mass transit corridors in the future.

[1ajs]

Altona manitoba

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

The only part that kills me is that, at street level... for me, that might as well be a big box store parking lot. And this one:



That's basically rural. Towers or not. That would feel like Little Harbour East to me. That's how it feels to me, looking at it. And I can't stand that... I need street-front density. I'd rather a low-slung Ottoman bazaar with buildings one floor high than that.

I know what you meean, but like mentioned, this stretch of West Georgia Street will see a wall of 30-50 storey towers going up in the next ten years on the left side of the street. This street in this photo is also the most congested street in Downtown Vancouver (just not when the photo was taken). All those lanes are there for hundreds of cars to line up for crossing the narrow 3-lane Lions Gate Bridge.

And what comes to the discussion on generic glass towers, this panorama actually has one of the best mixture of architecture in Vancouver IMO. You have the 70s and 80s concrete towers of West End, a yellow and red tower and then also some early 2000s glass towers all in one photo. That's pretty rare combo.

[Metro-One]

That is also Vancouver's widest downtown street by far and it is Vancouver's primary ceremonial street. It hosts massive running events (such as the sun run) and many annual parade events. Vancouver is not St. Johns, bigger cities will tend to have some larger arteries downtown. Ironically on average downtown Vancouver has very narrow streets and small city blocks for North American standards (making it far more friendly for walking).