Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by logan5

Not much variety or character left in Toronto's skyline. Just a sea of condo's now, so I think we should declare Montreal as having the best skyline in Canada.

I dunno about that.

IMO Toronto's is in a class by itself.

Montreal isn't even a shoo-in for second, which is arguably a toss-up between Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary.

[Laceoflight]

Western part of Montréal's skyline, August 7


Night Skyline by Thomas Lornsen, on 500px

[TorontoDrew]

From certain angles Logan has a point but that's changing now for the better. I for sure give 2nd to Montreal and that is for it's variety. One of the positives of not having the same growth that places like Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary saw over the past 20 years. But if you look at what's going up now it's the same stuff found in every other city, glass condo towers.

[TorontoDrew]

[IMG]Toronto Aerial #06 by Michael Muraz, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Yorkville #03 by Michael Muraz, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]St James Town #12 by Michael Muraz, on Flickr[/IMG]

[TorontoDrew]

[IMG]Fire at Warden Avenue by Kevin Cabral, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Sonog]

Edmonton

@jefrosonic

[ExcaliburKid]

I notice the crane is down from JW Marriott now, did that happen this week?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Acajack

IMO Toronto's is in a class by itself.

It is in a class by itself scale-wise. Bigger buildings and more buildings. But I think the apparent variety and level of finer-grained architectural interest in the skyline has actually gone down as many condos have been built and buildings like the Royal York have become less visible.

Quebec City is the polar opposite. Quite small but differences in heights, focal points, and lots of architectural detailing. I think Quebec City's skyline is more attractive than Toronto's.

The trade-off is not the worst thing in the world. It's more important for the city to be busy than for it to have a nice looking skyline. But Toronto probably could have had both with better planning.

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper? Other classics around the world are the Chrysler Building, Bank of China Tower, Carbon & Carbide, 30 St. Mary Axe, Marina City, and then a new one that looks pretty unique is Via 57 West. I don't think it's unfair to ask this since people keep talking about how Toronto is a world city now and this boom is something special. It's possible there's one I don't know about, but almost everything is a variation on the blue glass profit-maximizing condo tower with some superficial decoration tacked on.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by someone123

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper? Other classics around the world are the Chrysler Building, Bank of China Tower, Carbon & Carbide, 30 St. Mary Axe, Marina City, and then a new one that looks pretty unique is Via 57 West. I don't think it's unfair to ask this since people keep talking about how Toronto is a world city now and this boom is something special.

Good question.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by someone123

, 30 St. Mary Axe,

I had to look that one up... and then instantly recognized "The Gherkin"!

[Treplow]

Originally Posted by someone123

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper? Other classics around the world are the Chrysler Building, Bank of China Tower, Carbon & Carbide, 30 St. Mary Axe, Marina City, and then a new one that looks pretty unique is Via 57 West. I don't think it's unfair to ask this since people keep talking about how Toronto is a world city now and this boom is something special. It's possible there's one I don't know about, but almost everything is a variation on the blue glass profit-maximizing condo tower with some superficial decoration tacked on.

Frank Gehry was going to build us three...

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by someone123

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper?

Not as far as I can tell. The CN Tower still rules the roost. The L Tower is the most unique of the new offerings, but it's not not iconic or breathtaking. Though that view looking east taking in the neighbouring delta-shaped building is really cool.

What Toronto has is going for it is critical mass.

[Boris2k7]

"Breathtaking" and "iconic" are pretty high bars for any building. How would one go about writing the book "how to design an iconic building" in the first place? To reflect the social context and cultural zeitgeist of this decade, to me you almost have to design the "anti-skyscraper" -- something that totally repudiates concentration of wealth and power.

[Franco401]

Aura, One Bloor East and The One all stick out to me as being iconic, even if, as Boris2k7 puts it, they're far from the social connotations needed to be icons of their era.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

"Breathtaking" and "iconic" are pretty high bars for any building. How would one go about writing the book "how to design an iconic building" in the first place? To reflect the social context and cultural zeitgeist of this decade, to me you almost have to design the "anti-skyscraper" -- something that totally repudiates concentration of wealth and power.

I'd say it's kind of like porn or urban sprawl - hard to define precisely but you know it when you see it.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by someone123

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper?

L-Tower would be one that has very few if any copies out there. You could defiantly ask the same question about Vancouver.

[905er]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

L-Tower would be one that has very few if any copies out there. You could defiantly ask the same question about Vancouver.

I'd say Vancouver house (u/c) definitely fits the bill for iconic. Even Calgary has a couple.. The Bow and Telus sky.
The L tower could be considered iconic i guess.. supposing the crane is off it. Is it off yet?.. if not I definitely wouldn't give it 'iconic' status.

[TorontoDrew]

If Vancouver House (u/c) can be iconic then so can L with a crane

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by someone123

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper? Other classics around the world are the Chrysler Building, Bank of China Tower, Carbon & Carbide, 30 St. Mary Axe, Marina City, and then a new one that looks pretty unique is Via 57 West.

Not yet. It's astonishing that Toronto is still waiting for this unprecedented boom to produce an iconic building. You'd think Toronto would have produced 1-2 by now at the bare minimum, but nothing.

The only Canadian high-rises I consider iconic are the Bow, Toronto City Hall, Place Ville-Marie, and possibly Telus Sky when it's finished. Toronto also has the CN Tower but that's technically a tower. The One might get there although Mirvish-Gehry has a better shot.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by someone123

Has the boom in Toronto produced one memorable skyscraper? Other classics around the world are the Chrysler Building, Bank of China Tower, Carbon & Carbide, 30 St. Mary Axe, Marina City, and then a new one that looks pretty unique is Via 57 West. I don't think it's unfair to ask this since people keep talking about how Toronto is a world city now and this boom is something special. It's possible there's one I don't know about, but almost everything is a variation on the blue glass profit-maximizing condo tower with some superficial decoration tacked on.

Most "iconic" highrises are office buildings which is the case with all but one of those. The recent Toronto boom has been largely residential with something like one office building for every thirty residential buildings. I don't think it's reasonable to expect a residential boom to produce the same kind of iconic masterpieces that an office boom might considering how rare residential masterpieces tend to be.