The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Surrealplaces]

Toronto by Abdulkadir A, on Flickr

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

5 à 7 sur le toit de Montréal by Vern . on Flickr

This picture makes me realize 1. how much the Gardiner/railway barriers suck, and 2. how much I wish the buildings from the harbourfront in Toronto were mid-rise a la St. Lawrence Market as opposed to just a mass of high rise condos and office buildings. It just makes it seem more of an intentional buildup as opposed to "we had land so we put a big tower there".

Don't get me started on Harbour Castle and York Quay.

[caltrane74]

Yes, that picture of Montreal besides being gorgeous looks like an expanded version of our St. Lawrence Market Area (Toronto). It is pretty big though, just not on that scale.

Skyjacked

urbantoronto.ca

[Martin Mtl]

City lights by Philippe Campeau on Flickr


Montréal Seen From Mont Royal by ilirjan rrumbullaku on Flickr

[Mrs Sauga]

Originally Posted by The_Architect

This picture makes me realize 1. how much the Gardiner/railway barriers suck, and 2. how much I wish the buildings from the harbourfront in Toronto were mid-rise a la St. Lawrence Market as opposed to just a mass of high rise condos and office buildings. It just makes it seem more of an intentional buildup as opposed to "we had land so we put a big tower there".

Don't get me started on Harbour Castle and York Quay.

While i do agree... one problem I've always had with the Montreal skyline is that because of those midrises by the river, the skyscrapers are so far back that skyline shots from the river are not as impressive as Toronto or Vancouver and their skyscrapers up against the water. I think I like both arrangements, but I prefer skyscrapers closer to the water like New York.

[Rico Rommheim]

Skyscrapers right by the water benefit no one but a handful of SSP geeks who enjoy looking at pictures of skylines. Blocking views of the river with Toronto-style highrises is just not the way to go here.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Skyscrapers right by the water benefit no one but a handful of SSP geeks who enjoy looking at pictures of skylines. Blocking views of the river with Toronto-style highrises is just not the way to go here.

Not to mention that you would have had to destroy the historic city to build those towers. Urbanism based of the look of the skyline would be insane, to say the least.

[VivaPhysicality]

Eastern Canadian cities look 10000x better once the greenery finally comes back. They look rather dirty and barren to me in early spring when the trees still haven't filled in and the grass is yellow/brown. It seems to take a long time, but once things green up, they become attractive cities to me.

[TownGuy]

Other than essentially the foot of Yonge where does Toronto build skyscrapers right to the lake?

East of Yonge is basically nothingness being developed into exactly what you guys are calling ideal


West of Yonge is essentially a swath of midrises north of Queens Quay with parkland south.
toronto skyline from malting by Javin Lau, on Flickr

I know it's not exactly that cut and dry but that's basically the situation in Toronto. I think the bigger issue has been Queens Quay. It looking so harsh along with some of the condos have created a sea of barren concrete. Luckily its being redeveloped into what will be one of Canada's great boulevards.

Going from this


to this

Source http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/explore_projects2/central_waterfront/queens_quay

Will help. Work on Queens Quay is well underway and in some places complete.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by VivaPhysicality

Eastern Canadian cities look 10000x better once the greenery finally comes back. They look rather dirty and barren to me in early spring when the trees still haven't filled in and the grass is yellow/brown. It seems to take a long time, but once things green up, they become attractive cities to me.

This is true of all cities in temperate zones.

[logan5]

Plus those telegraph poles look horrible, especially when there's no trees to cover them up a bit.

[VivaPhysicality]

Originally Posted by rousseau

This is true of all cities in temperate zones.

Yeah, the prairie cities go through that ugly phase in early spring too, but what I meant is that the effect is stronger in Eastern Canadian cities because they actually look attractive to me once the green shows up. Prairie cities never look attractive to me.

[caltrane74]

Queens Quay , has the making of a great Toronto street, kinda like Yonge or University.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by rousseau

This is true of all cities in temperate zones.

I think Calgary might be the worst for this, brown, dead grass and grey leafless trees aren't much to look at. Eastern cities usually have better snow cover, so I find they don't look quite so bad, though eastern cities usually tend to be much more overcast in the winter and that doesn't look so nice.

Originally Posted by VivaPhysicality

Yeah, the prairie cities go through that ugly phase in early spring too, but what I meant is that the effect is stronger in Eastern Canadian cities because they actually look attractive to me once the green shows up. Prairie cities never look attractive to me.

I think Prairie cities look great in the summer, such a stark contrast to winter. Calgary and Edmonton are surprisingly green, especially given their context. Manitoba and Saskatchewan cities are the same I'm sure, I just never spend much time there.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Skyscrapers right by the water benefit no one but a handful of SSP geeks who enjoy looking at pictures of skylines. Blocking views of the river with Toronto-style highrises is just not the way to go here.

I think most people enjoy how Chicago has highrises pretty much right up to the waterfront. The Chicago river is fantastic with it's highrises right up to the river, love the effect of that, need to go there and do a river boat tour!

[Metro-One]

I love the oasis look of Prairie cities in the summer.

[Boris2k7]

Crescent Moon and Venus over Calgary by Amazing Sky Photography, on Flickr


Calgary Skyline 2015 by Darryl Renyk Photography, on Flickr

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[TallBob]

Calgarian: I lived in Chicago for many years and believe me... I never got tired of the view of the high-rises directly next to the river. My theory is if you're protecting a view of a monument/icon, ect., or a Shadow cast on a park/building of some kind, then you shouldn't build anything close to that spot. IMO.

[Coldrsx]