Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[Martin Mtl]

Photo: Steve Knezevic on Facebook

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I had no idea ICE had such a bad rep.



https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2021/09/horrifying-viral-videos-ice-condos-toronto/

wtf.

Yeah I've never heard of any of this either.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

Photo: Steve Knezevic on Facebook

Hamilton 2.0

[Masoliantekw]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

This is one of my favourite angles of Québec. I am always impressed, when driving back to the city on Dufferin-Montmorency Hwy from the Côte-de-Beaupré, after the St. Charles river bridge, the city appears like that.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Yeah I've never heard of any of this either.

ICE condos have an incredibly bad rap on social media, particularly TikTok. I'm guessing most people under 30 are at least aware of the stories. Think the last video I saw was of people saying the fire alarms were going off every night and that the bomb squad was called one night.

"One Toronto resident, Kylene Loucks, recently shared her experience living in the condo building, located at 12 York Street, in two videos posted on TikTok.

The videos, which collectively have garnered just shy of 2.5 million views, show a slew of concerning issues from fire alarms going off in the middle of the night to multiple shootings that left bullet holes in the building.

In her first TikTok, Loucks says she moved into ICE Condos in July 2020, and in just a year’s time, she captured a surprising amount of footage of issues that no resident would want to deal with.

According to Loucks, on her first weekend at the condo building, a fire alarm went off at 5 am, adding that these early morning fire alarms became a regular weekend occurrence. She also showed footage of residents lining up for the elevator, saying only one was operational to serve all 29 floors of the building.

...

The most concerning clips though were the multiple shootings, including one alleged shooting on March 6 where Loucks says 11 shots were fired. In her second TikTok, Loucks includes clips of a bomb squad van and an emergency task force team outside of the condo building."

https://dailyhive.com/toronto/ice-condos-tiktok

Supposedly the building is very popular with AirBNB rentals which they eventually cracked down on.

[Monolith]

Downtown Vancouver and West Van by Jul.Love life, on Flickr

[905er]

Originally Posted by Masoliantekw

This is one of my favourite angles of Québec. I am always impressed, when driving back to the city on Dufferin-Montmorency Hwy from the Côte-de-Beaupré, after the St. Charles river bridge, the city appears like that.

The foreground of this picture is everything! love this pic. ugly towers.. but I kinda like the little bit of dinginess they represent. have a mentioned I'm in love with Quebec City?

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by 905er

The foreground of this picture is everything! love this pic. ugly towers.. but I kinda like the little bit of dinginess they represent. have a mentioned I'm in love with Quebec City?

Believe me, when you live here you get used to those towers and even tend to forget they are kinda ugly

[Rico Rommheim]

I think I've had an evolution, but I don't find these skyscrapers to be ugly at all.

The Édifice Marie-Guyart is a great Brutalist tower.


https://imagespatrimoine.ville.quebec.qc.ca/batiment/6000-6999/6107/web_03Q_E10S44SS1D78-428PA1.jpg

Is it a bit massive next to the national assembly? Sure, but its a powerful looking building, and since it is home to the bulk of the Quebec gvt, its aesthetic makes sense.

The Édifice d'Youville is a rather pleasant modern building that would be appreciated in anybody's downtown, I find.


https://www.archiseek.com/wp-content/gallery/canada-qc-quebec/tower_lge.jpg

The Delta is banal if anything, and is probably at its worst at ground level, but from a distance is looks like a respectable 20th century modern highrise.



The National Bank building is another quite ordinary modernist piece...


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Place_de_la_Capitale%2C_Qu%C3%A9bec.jpg

These modern towers indicate that Quebec, and Quebec's national capital is not a museum or set-piece city, but is a city that is in constant flux and evolution.
Or at least it was.

What I like about the Quebec skyline is the brash mix of modern (brutalist, especially) with the wide selection of older buildings. It's a completely unique skyline. There are no others anywhere in North America, or even the world.

[FrAnKs]

^ I agree, the Delta is the worse. My favourites are the Hilton and Édifice d'Youville (I am excluding Price building & Château frontenanc on purpose here)

The hilton was already aging quite well in my opinion AND they just renovated all of it facade and windows last year.

I quite like Édifice D'Youville. I think there's something elegant in its design (intemporel?) and I could easily see this skyscraper in a European city like Brussels or Liège etc...

I agree that Québec city has a unique skyline. On the other hand, its skyline is hard to capture as a whole because of the topography.

[mousquet]

^ I don't dislike Brutalism either when it's made up of some decent concrete and the massing is ok.
These are cool historic buildings indeed.

Sometimes, it even worked to midrises. But then as always, concrete to the façade has to be of fair quality and the massing/design of buildings matters enormously.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

^ I agree, the Delta is the worse. My favourites are the Hilton and Édifice d'Youville (I am excluding Price building & Château frontenanc on purpose here)

The hilton was already aging quite well in my opinion AND they just renovated all of it facade and windows last year.

I quite like Édifice D'Youville. I think there's something elegant in its design (intemporel?) and I could easily see this skyscraper in a European city like Brussels or Liège etc...

I agree that Québec city has a unique skyline. On the other hand, its skyline is hard to capture as a whole because of the topography.

Qc looks great from the falls though


From_Afar_in_Quebec_City_Series_53 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

and from the plains it looks hulkish and imposing

Center_of_a_Nation_Quebec_City_Series_34 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

[Nite]

Toronto

• Video Link
• Video Link

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I had no idea ICE had such a bad rep.



https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2021/09/horrifying-viral-videos-ice-condos-toronto/

wtf.

Ice is the poster child for what can occur in investor owned condo buildings after going viral. Keep in mind you only hear about the bad stuff. Still, the stories are crazy.

[WhipperSnapper]

The Delta is too awkward for me. It's typical for office hotel towers though.

I wonder if any of these are vulnerable to be reskinned due to the age of the precast panels.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

The Delta is too awkward for me. It's typical for office hotel towers though.

I wonder if any of these are vulnerable to be reskinned due to the age of the precast panels.

As I said above, they recently got rid of those white prefab panels on the Hilton and they replaced it by brand new white aluminium panels to keep the same style from the outside. I hope they would do the same with the Delta, he needs it lol

[Darkoshvilli]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Hamilton 2.0

Stfu

[Repthe250]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Yeah I've never heard of any of this either.

I stayed at ICE in October for 5 nights. I can confirm the fire alarm issue and the bottles being thrown off balconies. I was standing below and had one miss me by about 3 meters.

[Coldrsx]

https://twitter.com/leroyschulz/status/1487994693908529154

[Martin Mtl]

/\ Very nice.