Quote:
Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
For me this was immediately apparent. Too much of downtown is what I would call "low intensity" in the sense that outside the financial district (and to a lesser extend Yorkville), the size, height, and quality of the buildings drops off drastically. And it isn't just an issue of skyscrapers, but of the low and midrise streetscape. In Chicago you don't have many 2-3 story buildings forming the streetwall right downtown the way you have on parts Yonge for instance. The small area of the Toronto financial district has such a high level of intensity but if you streetview say, Sydney, and go throughout downtown and try and find low intensity areas, you'll see the difference.
Not to say this is necessarily a bad thing. In Toronto it puts lots of office workers within close proximity to Union, and to one another so it's quite efficient. It just affects downtown's vibe for someone on the street. In the high intensity places there is so much density and height that it's tough for someone to properly appreciate it. Especially since there were so many impressive smaller buildings razed to make way for the skyscrapers of the financial district that could have been mixed in with the 'scrapers.
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That's also part of it, the drop offs in Toronto are very sudden, and make decent sized buildings seem small and unimpressive because they're tiny compared to what's next to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flipv
There is basically a line of 20-40 storey towers from Lake Ontario to Yorkville. All this looks tiny in comparison to the 60-70 storey monsters in the Financial District.
Otherwise, from ground level, you see it. It's a never ending line of buildings. Montreal's towers feel small. I mean their tallest tower will be eclipsed by a building under construction in my neighbourhood (in Etobicoke). Stand at Bloor/Bay and look north, east, west and south. It's just density and buildings.
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Montreal or Vancouver only feel smaller if you spend all your time staring up (Calgary still stands pretty darned good). Also only if you compare it to a few intersections. A lot of downtown Toronto is only in that 20-40 range, which is where lots of Montreal, Vancouver, or Calgary are. The other three also have an advantage of a more circular design, so when you come to an intersection all four directions are solid while Toronto tends to have 2 very solid and 2 less impressive ones due to a linear build. There's a few exceptions (Yonge and Bloor being one), but most of the time you don't get as lost in the downtown (though compared to Vancouver and Calgary it's easier to get yourself lost in the historic core, which in my opinion is a much better feature).
It's not a bad thing, it's just that Toronto is built to a different style, so if you want to get lost in urban canyons the next 3 biggest skylines don't fall far behind. If you love to explore neighbourhoods like I do then Toronto's only real competition is Montreal.
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