Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[MolsonExport]

My opinion of Ottawa's urban fabric is somewhere between that of its biggest boosters and worst slaggers. Let's face it, the urban experience in most Canadian cities is pretty shitty. At the street level, aside from a few nerds on this site, few people care about tall glass buildings. Give me the Plateau and Verdun and Rosemont anyday over Rene Levesque Ouest. The least enticing part of Paris is probably La Defense. Skylines look great from a distance, but experienced up close, most of the ones in Canada add little to the urban experience. New York has the wonderful choked streets of Lower Manhattan replete with burly masonry masterpieces. As do Chicago, Detroit, and to a lesser extent, Montreal and Toronto (and a few patches of Vancouver). The new glass towers found in most Canadian cities are mostly blah, and at the street level include some shitty podium that includes Tim Whoretons, Starfucks, and maybe a Subway (sandwich place). The experience offered by Quebec City (upper/lower towns, St. Roch, St. Sauveur, etc.) is thin on the ground in other parts of Canada, with props to parts of Saint John, St. John's, Halifax, and Victoria, as really nice places).

[905er]

That last Montreal pic is breathtaking!.. that is what a city SHOULD look like!!

[Razor]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

My opinion of Ottawa's urban fabric is somewhere between that of its biggest boosters and worst slaggers..

yes..I think Ackajack had it right actually..If you metaphorically took down all the capital city tags and took somebody not in the know around the city, showed them the canal, monumental buildings (sans federal signs),Greenbelt/extensive bike paths etc. they would find it a very attractive "regular" city. Explain to them after that this is the capital of the country, and they would probably be extremely underwhelmed.

Originally Posted by 905er

That last Montreal pic is breathtaking!.. that is what a city SHOULD look like!!

Agreed.. Very nice pics..Also, those last Vancouver pics..Awesome!

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

My opinion of Ottawa's urban fabric is somewhere between that of its biggest boosters and worst slaggers. Let's face it, the urban experience in most Canadian cities is pretty shitty. At the street level, aside from a few nerds on this site, few people care about tall glass buildings. Give me the Plateau and Verdun and Rosemont anyday over Rene Levesque Ouest. The least enticing part of Paris is probably La Defense. Skylines look great from a distance, but experienced up close, most of the ones in Canada add little to the urban experience. New York has the wonderful choked streets of Lower Manhattan replete with burly masonry masterpieces. As do Chicago, Detroit, and to a lesser extent, Montreal and Toronto (and a few patches of Vancouver). The new glass towers found in most Canadian cities are mostly blah, and at the street level include some shitty podium that includes Tim Whoretons, Starfucks, and maybe a Subway (sandwich place). The experience offered by Quebec City (upper/lower towns, St. Roch, St. Sauveur, etc.) is thin on the ground in other parts of Canada, with props to parts of Saint John, St. John's, Halifax, and Victoria, as really nice places).

Agreed. I'm thankful that there will never be any glass tower in Montreal's neighborhood outside downtown, including Le Plateau, Verdun, Rosemont, Homa, Outremont, Westmount, St-Henri, etc.

That being said, in the downtown core, I think glass towers have their place, especially in an old downtown like Montreal where newer towers cohabit with much older masonry buildings, making a very interesting mix. Old Montreal, of course, should be off-limit (even though I'm excited by Victoria sur le Parc and the National Bank HQ, which are both at the very limit of the old city).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

My opinion of Ottawa's urban fabric is somewhere between that of its biggest boosters and worst slaggers. Let's face it, the urban experience in most Canadian cities is pretty shitty. At the street level, aside from a few nerds on this site, few people care about tall glass buildings. Give me the Plateau and Verdun and Rosemont anyday over Rene Levesque Ouest. The least enticing part of Paris is probably La Defense. Skylines look great from a distance, but experienced up close, most of the ones in Canada add little to the urban experience. New York has the wonderful choked streets of Lower Manhattan replete with burly masonry masterpieces. As do Chicago, Detroit, and to a lesser extent, Montreal and Toronto (and a few patches of Vancouver). The new glass towers found in most Canadian cities are mostly blah, and at the street level include some shitty podium that includes Tim Whoretons, Starfucks, and maybe a Subway (sandwich place). The experience offered by Quebec City (upper/lower towns, St. Roch, St. Sauveur, etc.) is thin on the ground in other parts of Canada, with props to parts of Saint John, St. John's, Halifax, and Victoria, as really nice places).

Re the highlighted, I find that the only places where you have jaw-dropping skylines juxtaposed with bustling street life below are the Asian big cities, with a few notable exceptions elsewhere like Manhattan.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by theman23

Most of Ottawa's side streets are filled with the same leafy neighborhoods and Victorian era homes that you find in Toronto. You really don't see the Quebec style streets unless you actually enter Quebec.

I'd agree though Vanier definitely has a Quebec working-class street vernacular and even in the inner west end (on the fringes of Chinatown) areas like Hintonburg and Mechanicsville also do - though in these latter two cases much is being demolished and replaced due to rapid gentrification.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by theman23

Never really bothered to visit Ottawa's Chinatown. I guess I assumed it didn't exist given how small the Chinese population is. I honestly don't know what you're expecting, but it seems OK. .

Ottawa's Chinatown feels airy and gappy, and incomplete. Little Italy which is the neighbourhood right next to it, feels that way even moreso.

Though in the latter case especially, that is changing rapidly and in 10 years I'd say will no longer feel that way at all.

[someone123]

For urbanists part of what seems undervalued about Ottawa is that it was historically one of the larger cities back around the late prewar era. It has a meatier historic inner city than say Calgary or Edmonton. It is maybe more like what Winnipeg would have been if it had grown into a Calgary-sized city, plus with some older stuff and unique national landmarks. This kind of "mix" of advantages is easily overlooked.

I like the historic neighbourhoods like what Quebec City has but they're by definition fairly static. There are a lot of improvements happening in many Canadian cities. I wonder what the future will bring in this area. A 1910 neighbourhood trapped in amber looked really good in 1990 but how will it compare to areas that organically improved from 2005-2045? Note that there are different goals, either heritage preservation or creating the best neighbourhood from an urbanism perspective. A lot of historic areas are not preserved for urbanism purposes, they're preserved for heritage reasons and because a lot of people prefer stable neighbourhoods.

[TorontoDrew]

1995_L1070981_15-040 by Randolph Croft, on Flickr

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Razor

Explain to them after that this is the capital of the country, and they would probably be extremely underwhelmed.

I really don't think people think about capitals at all when they travel or visit new places, unless you have some spectacular parliamentary buildings that need visiting. It feels very authoritarian to have a capital city that overwhelms every other city in the country by design. It just so happens that most countries in the world have a capital which is also their biggest (or only major) city. US, Brazil, Australia are all other countries like Canada that have capitals that nobody really cares about compared to other, more famous cities.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Ottawa's Chinatown feels airy and gappy, and incomplete.

Ottawa's Chinatown isn't much - there's almost more and better Chinese spots out by Algonquin. Rideau just east of the Rideau Centre is also quickly shifting to a very Chinese/Asian feeling, too. Basically similar to how Toronto's Chinatown is pretty good but there's better spots in Markham and North York.

[Chadillaccc]

Winter Summer by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[quall]

Ottawa's CBD gets flack here for its height limit/tabletop skyline but I'd argue it's actually worked in our favour. What Ottawa's CBD lacks in height it makes up for in density and walkability. Also, being surrounded by tall glassy skyscrapers is overbearing and usually doesn't make for a very pleasant street-level experience (as a skyscraper enthusiast I acknowledge I'm an anomaly).

The real crux of the issue with Ottawa's CBD is that it is too true to its name: a business district. Retail downtown mostly caters to office workers and public servants, and with the lack of full-time residents these businesses have little incentive to operate past 5pm or on weekends. Also, like most Canadian cities the public realm is almost comically unrefined (narrow concrete sidewalks, 3-4 lane one-way streets, street parking, no street furniture/greenery) although the recent rebuild of Queen Street is a step in the right direction. Sparks Street (our pedestrian mall) also has incredible potential but outside a few annual festivals (RIP) the street feels utterly bleak and dated. It doesn't help that the entire northern side of the mall is owned by the feds and almost completely devoid of retail and restaurants.

The Byward Market is also well overdue for a revamp. Fortunately there is a plan to transform the pedestrian experience with higher foot-traffic priority and quality pavers/street furniture within the decade. Chinatown could definitely use some infill but it's still one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Ottawa. Hunger may be influencing that opinion though.

As for the inner burbs, we're lucky to have some decent bones and a few updated main street corridors that are pretty vibrant during the summer. Unfortunately the city refuses to bury utilities and street parking often occupies space that could otherwise be optimized for pedestrian flow and al fresco dining.

The only thing that can redeem the outer burbs is TOD and a blanket zoning overhaul. Merivale Road in particular could be a top-contender on the soul-sucking thread.

[LFC]

Kelowna B.C. The Little Big Town.




By @digital_nomad_photography on IG.

[giallo]

^Great shot.

Now that there are more and more people living in the Upper Mission, these types of views are becoming more common. Twenty years ago, this would have been a dense forest without any view whatsoever.

On a related note, I'm still getting used to see Crawford Estates so easily from this side of the ridge. For so long, CE was basically hidden from almost every vantage point of the city.

[biguc]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Winter Summer by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

When Calgary is ready to build tall again I hope it's further west in downtown. The big-four cluster reminds me of Winnipeg.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by biguc

When Calgary is ready to build tall again I hope it's further west in downtown. The big-four cluster reminds me of Winnipeg.

The effect is exasperated by this angle. There are a number of tall towers west of that cluster (two Bankers Hall towers, EAP, even Nexen, Husky, etc)

[ScreamingViking]

I love this one.

There are a million stories in the naked city...

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

1995_L1070981_15-040 by Randolph Croft, on Flickr

[J.OT13]

LeBreton Flats. The triangular vacant lot in the middle will be home to Trinity Centre (65, 56, 23 fl).

Photo_6553748_DJI_148_jpg_4262541_0_2021325114616_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

More central area of LeBreton. The new Library will go on the angled lot, centre, right. The lot next door is up for RFP by the NCC, and across the tracks, Claridge will be building phase 4 of their development (two towers) relatively soon.

Two residential towers are going up at the edge of the CBD, with three more (including a new tallest for the CBD area for the first time since 1971) have been approved.

Photo_6553750_DJI_150_jpg_4015859_0_2021325114826_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

Corso Italia (Gladstone) and Dow's Lake (Carling) station area. A 30 storey tower is u/c across the street from Icon and thousands more units are proposed. The patch of grass bottom, centre will be Gladstone Village, over 1,000 residential mixed-income units, a French elementary school, park and expanded rec centre (out of frame).

The northern end of Trillium Line (Dow's Lake to Bayview) will evolve more than any other over the next few years. It should be nearly unrecognizable by 2030.

Photo_6553751_DJI_151_jpg_4455621_0_202132511492_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

Tunney's Pasture and Scott street going through the image on the left. The Transitway trench runs along Scott, witch half converted to rail as part of Stage 1 Confederation and the second half to be converted by 2025. This is another area with major change planned, with about a dozen towers proposed along Parkdale and Scott.

For context Bayview is out of frame at the bottom.

Photo_6553752_DJI_152_jpg_4200442_0_2021325114912_photo_original by harley613, on Flickr

Along with the north-south Trillium Corridor, consisting of Dow's Lake, Corso Italia and Bayview stations, the east-west Confederation Corridor of Lyon, Pimisi, Bayview, Tunney's, Westboro and Kitchi Sibi (Dominion) will also witness a significant bout of TOD over the next two decades.

[905er]

LeBreton flats is such an eyesore.. I can't believe it still sits the way it does and this is our capital for f**ks sake. At least the trinity site will fill that out nicely.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by LFC

Kelowna B.C. The Little Big Town.




By @digital_nomad_photography on IG.

wow. Love this shot of Kelowna, which has grown up since I last lived there (1994-95).