The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! - Page 401

dleung · #**8001** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 7:50 AM**

Don't give a rats ass about this mousquet guy, but yea this forum is thin skinned. We associate criticism with negativity rather than an aspiration for better, and water down the significance of good buildings by complimenting crap buildings with consolation prizes such as "filler", "density booster", etc...

Acajack · #**8002** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 12:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dleung

Don't give a rats ass about this mousquet guy, but yea this forum is thin skinned. We associate criticism with negativity rather than an aspiration for better, and water down the significance of good buildings by complimenting crap buildings with consolation prizes such as "filler", "density booster", etc...

Or worse: jealously and envy!

esquire · #**8003** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 3:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dleung

Don't give a rats ass about this mousquet guy, but yea this forum is thin skinned. We associate criticism with negativity rather than an aspiration for better, and water down the significance of good buildings by complimenting crap buildings with consolation prizes such as "filler", "density booster", etc...

Is it really watering down the significance of good buildings? I don't think so. Even ugly buildings can still make a positive contribution to the overall cityscape... do people go to megacities like Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai and come home griping about the obvious fact that like 75% or more of the buildings are drab, hideous pieces of junk? No, of course not... they talk about the energy in the streets, the vibrant pulse of the city and what exciting places they are to be. In that way, a city can be far more than the sum of its parts. It's great when it happens, but not every building has to be a showstopper.

Beedok · #**8004** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 3:09 PM**

The forum definitely has a thin skin. I'm just remembering my discussion about relative canyon scales between Toronto and out other cities and everyone attacking me as a Toronto hater. It's a simple fact that our cities do different things well, so not everything scales linearly. I'm sure there's something that Sudbury or Prince George do well that even Toronto and Montreal could learn from.

However charging in to start calling everything a penis out of the blue is definitely unusual behaviour and the language barrier made things awkward.

Mister F · #**8005** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 3:23 PM**

So...much...navel gazing...

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

Let's be honest here. The CN tower does kind of resemble a penis.

You may want to see a doctor about that

koops65 · #**8006** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 3:47 PM**

Back to skylines...

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Coincidentally (with all this talk of the tower), I just stumbled upon some photos of a CN Tower-less Toronto...

I recall earlier discussions about how much better (or worse) Toronto might look if there had been no CN Tower built. After seeing these pix, I am definitely in the "I'm glad they built it" camp... without it, Toronto seems lacking somehow, and far more "average".

Nouvellecosse · #**8007** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 3:54 PM**

I think for most people that is so obvious, that suggesting that it should be torn down will get you laughed down the street. Nothing to do with thin skin and everything to do with simple absurdity.

caltrane74 · #**8008** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 4:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dleung

Don't give a rats ass about this mousquet guy, but yea this forum is thin skinned. We associate criticism with negativity rather than an aspiration for better, and water down the significance of good buildings by complimenting crap buildings with consolation prizes such as "filler", "density booster", etc...

Sorry Guy, but I love density/filler/infill.

Much better than Parking lots, dead zones, strip malls and plazas. They do nothing for the built form of a city. This is how you get a built up city, especially in Toronto's case where there is so much major construction going on with major landmark towers to boot.

And I hate negative City vs City discussions. I wish it would stop, serves no purpose at all. Just creates raw emotions. If it's positive comparisons I don't mind.

So what we are Canadians and we want to be respectful and nice, what is wrong with that. This is why we don't pull guns on each other if someone steps on our shoes or wants our new gold chain.

SkahHigh · #**8009** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 4:55 PM**

Sans titre by Vernnamm ., sur Flickr

Villaggio · #**8010** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 5:18 PM**

Nice pic but I find Montreal's skyline very boring from that angle. Flat Table-top skyline with no single element particularly standing out. Looks like Edmonton or oversized Hamilton.

The only good angles are from the mountain and from Champlain Bridge.

hipster duck · #**8011** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 5:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by koops65

I recall earlier discussions about how much better (or worse) Toronto might look if there had been no CN Tower built. After seeing these pix, I am definitely in the "I'm glad they built it" camp... without it, Toronto seems lacking somehow, and far more "average".

It's hard to say that Toronto looks better without the CN tower because, had the CN tower not been built, other highrises would have taken its place to become symbols of the city.

I think that all highrises built since the CN tower are too deferential to it. They all are below the height of the skypod, and, with the exception of Brookfield Place, they're all flat tops - as if the CN tower is the only rightful spire for Toronto.

We really don't know what Toronto would have had in store if the CN tower never existed, especially during the daring, PoMo skyscraper boom of the 1980s (my second favourite era of skyscraper construction after the art deco 1930s).

kool maudit · #**8012** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 5:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Villaggio

Nice pic but I find Montreal's skyline very boring from that angle. Flat Table-top skyline with no single element particularly standing out. Looks like Edmonton or oversized Hamilton.

The only good angles are from the mountain and from Champlain Bridge.

Montreal's skyline is just not that dramatic -- it really isn't. It's not a good one in that lump-in-the-throat sense. Big Milwaukee. But that's a good cross-section of city. Visceral grey chunks and static. Montreal is a blanket you can pull all the way over yourself, not even a tiny draft near the ankles. That's rare in North America. But the pattern is kind of boring, 1970s orange and brown.

Upset to see that I missed a mousquet visit, but glad to see Rousseau lay it all out like that. He's right: this is who we are. Forget even the famously prickly French -- even the Danes just sort of bug each other a lot more than we do. I didn't realize we were such an outlier, but there you go.

"Good for Calgary, looks like it's really coming together! Fingers crossed for the next census?"

Imagine caring enough to type that straight? I guess maybe it's kind of nice. Straightforward and hopeful for the future. Boring though... visibly, noticeably, conspicuous-in-a-world-sense boring.

kool maudit · #**8013** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 5:46 PM**

Regarding the CN Tower, though, I love it. It's Toronto's secular minaret, a monument to human chatter.

Nouvellecosse · #**8014** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Upset to see that I missed a mousquet visit, but glad to see Rousseau lay it all out like that. He's right: this is who we are. Forget even the famously prickly French -- even the Danes just sort of bug each other a lot more than we do. I didn't realize we were such an outlier, but there you go.

People are constantly looking for the signs of Canada's sensitivity and supposed lack of cultural vigour, to the point where they interpret it into situations where it doesn't exist. It's a long term, ongoing theme that's become a staple among our fringe cultural navel gazing community.

Acajack · #**8015** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 6:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beedok

The forum definitely has a thin skin. I'm just remembering my discussion about relative canyon scales between Toronto and out other cities and everyone attacking me as a Toronto hater. It's a simple fact that our cities do different things well, so not everything scales linearly. I'm sure there's something that Sudbury or Prince George do well that even Toronto and Montreal could learn from.

However charging in to start calling everything a penis out of the blue is definitely unusual behaviour and the language barrier made things awkward.

Good post overall but not sure about the language barrier people are talking about. Penis is penis in French except with an accent aigu.

Chadillaccc · #**8016** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 7:03 PM**

http://dailyphotodose.com/

kool maudit · #**8017** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 7:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

People are constantly looking for the signs of Canada's sensitivity and supposed lack of cultural vigour, to the point where they interpret it into situations where it doesn't exist. It's a long term, ongoing theme that's become a staple among our fringe cultural navel gazing community.

Meta-analysis and acting over it all too. It's a rich tapestry.

Acajack · #**8018** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 7:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

People are constantly looking for the signs of Canada's sensitivity and supposed lack of cultural vigour, to the point where they interpret it into situations where it doesn't exist. It's a long term, ongoing theme that's become a staple among our fringe cultural navel gazing community.

You have to wonder though why it comes up so often about Canada and not about most other countries.

Acajack · #**8019** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 8:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Montreal's skyline is just not that dramatic -- it really isn't. It's not a good one in that lump-in-the-throat sense. Big Milwaukee. But that's a good cross-section of city. Visceral grey chunks and static. Montreal is a blanket you can pull all the way over yourself, not even a tiny draft near the ankles. That's rare in North America. But the pattern is kind of boring, 1970s orange and brown.
.

Montreal isn't really about the skyline. Never really was. It tried for a while but other stuff got in the way as we all know.

Nouvellecosse · #**8020** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 8:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

You have to wonder though why it comes up so often about Canada and not about most other countries.

It's important to point out that just because people interpret something it into situations where it doesn't exist, doesn't mean there are no situations in which it does exist. It just means it's often going to come up in situations when it shouldn't.