The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! - Page 182

Monolith · #**3621** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 7:31 PM**

Sorry, one more.

Downtown Vancouver by alexcostin, on Flickr

drawarc · #**3622** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 7:54 PM**

Ottawa skyline at night by cschoong, on Flickr

scrapin · #**3623** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 11:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Careful what you ask for... lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Them's fightin words around these parts. I'll post some when I get home tonight. I'm sure there will be pages and pages of "what skyline is 2nd best" nonsense to read by then

Awesome! would love to see some great Calgary shots. Also very nice van and TO shots above me.

softee · #**3624** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 11:48 PM**

_MG_1671 by stevenschelling, on Flickr

Delirium · #**3625** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 12:08 AM**

great shot! what happened to the top portion of L tower? i wonder why they didn't continue the vertical spandrel on those 4 darker floors. they did on the left and right but forgot about the middle portion!

koops65 · #**3626** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 12:24 AM**

I like how it makes Aura appear to be in the CBD.

softee · #**3627** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 1:17 AM**

You can even see One Bloor peeking up at the bottom right!

Beedok · #**3628** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 1:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

My City by ashtontekno, on Flickr

So, is that big blog of light St. Catherines? I think it's too far east to be Hamilton.

MolsonExport · #**3629** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 1:53 AM**

Quote:

Love it.

MolsonExport · #**3630** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 1:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Them's fightin words around these parts. I'll post some when I get home tonight. I'm sure there will be pages and pages of "what skyline is 2nd best" nonsense to read by then

Easy. Second-best is a toss-up between Vancouver and Montreal. Toronto takes the gold medal, even though Vancouver is the prettier girl. Montreal gets points for the density and layered variety. On account of all the shiny new towers, I'd definitely give props to Calgary for fourth place. Consistent with its ranking in the metropolitan population race.

And Winnipeg for fifth. Great bones in the Peg.

I hope that this viewpoint doesn't lead to a certain somebody going full cohagen.

kaotic

Bcasey25raptor · #**3631** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 4:04 AM**

Calgary Skyline

Chadillaccc · #**3632** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 4:16 AM**

Nice shot.

And absolutely in love with that Toronto shot posted by Softee. Wow!

Bcasey25raptor · #**3633** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 4:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Easy. Second-best is a toss-up between Vancouver and Montreal. Toronto takes the gold medal, even though Vancouver is the prettier girl. Montreal gets points for the density and layered variety. On account of all the shiny new towers, I'd definitely give props to Calgary for fourth place. Consistent with its ranking in the metropolitan population race.

As someone who lives in Vancouver, I just don't get it. The city is gorgeous and all but skyline is something it just does not do well.

We have maybe 3 skyscrapers and our actual skyline is spread out and short. What makes Vancouver feel large is it's suburban skyline density. I'm in Calgary right now and frankly, it's looking like a solid number 2 or 3 in Canada.

Take away Vancouver's mountains and you're left with a never ending flat short stubby condo skyline. It's just not appealing let alone it's barely even a skyline. Calgary's skyline is arguably the 2nd best outside of Toronto. It can hold it's own very very well and I'm extremely impressed with the density and feel of it's downtown. However this doesn't mean Calgary is an urban oasis because it definitely is not. Vancouver's street level urbanity is indeed better then Calgary's but the skyline itself? Sorry Vancouver, I love you dearly since you are my home but your skyline is freaking pathetic.

Gotta agree with Chad on the Calgary skyline is 2nd or 3rd debate.

I can even offer you examples of both.

This is the best angle of Calgary's skyline I can find.

Conversely this is my favourite angle of Vancouver.

Vancouver is flat, glass, repetitive, and boring. Calgary is energetic, tall, diverse, and interesting.

The comparison however i find is a silly one. Vancouver's strength's are much different from Calgary's. The natural setting gives Vancouver an extremely unfair edge. But skyline to skyline? I'm giving it to Calgary.

Chadillaccc · #**3634** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 4:35 AM**

Agreed with all of that. Urbanity has nothing to do with skylines, and I don't remember seeing anyone try to make the argument that Calgary has a better urban environment than any of the big three, as such an argument would be groundless and in vain.

Part of why Vancouver has such an excellent urban realm is due to the insane density of shorter towers and mid-rises. In a way, Vancouver's "stubiness" in the skyline department greatly improves things where it really matters, the street level. This is why I'm glad that the Beltline isn't building 150 - 200 meter towers, just densifying with 50 - 120 meter towers.

But please, really, let's not rehash this ridiculous and totally subjective, homeristic discussion again.

travis3000 · #**3635** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 4:37 AM**

Love all the amazing skylines in this country. For our size I say we punch away above our weight. Vancouver is gorgeous, has an incredible breathtaking setting, and the sheer amount of towers (albeit mostly shorter and mid size) makes it look very impressive. Toronto is the goliath with the tallest towers, the iconic CN Tower, and is growing like a weed. Calgary is growing up and putting up some awesome tall towers, looks very futuristic as well. Montreal has the concentration, depth and variety of different buildings which give the city a diverse yet mature skyline. Edmonton is finally getting into the game now with the new Delta hotel and Stantec towers. Can't wait to see that one develop. Winnipeg also has a pretty nice skyline as well. I truly love all the skylines of Canada for different reasons. Each one has a quality that stands out.

Bcasey25raptor · #**3636** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 5:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Agreed with all of that. Urbanity has nothing to do with skylines, and I don't remember seeing anyone try to make the argument that Calgary has a better urban environment than any of the big three, as such an argument would be groundless and in vain.

Part of why Vancouver has such an excellent urban realm is due to the insane density of shorter towers and mid-rises. In a way, Vancouver's "stubiness" in the skyline department greatly improves things where it really matters, the street level. This is why I'm glad that the Beltline isn't building 150 - 200 meter towers, just densifying with 50 - 120 meter towers.

The beltline brings up an extremely interesting observation.

The belt line is the condo/residential portion of downtown from what I can tell wondering around it. Knowing this is the case, you can include it as part of the whole downtown picture simply because in Vancouver, we do so with the west end and Yaletown areas which to be honest, aren't really downtown at all.

In Vancouver's case, if we look at the skyline. The downtown area is the actual portion hi lighted in red.
Blue represents either urban condo's/apartments or areas which are business but not part of the real downtown.

Heres a map to show the two quite accurately (shown to scale)

Vancouver's CBD and Calgary's CBD are similarly sized in area, but Vancouver's is interspersed with dozens of residential.

Calgary's however is not. When you give Vancouver it's downtown residential periphery, it looks larger, in Calgary's case this is almost never done. Since doing this gives Vancouver an unfair advantage, I have proceeded to include the beltline in Calgary.

For Vancouver

For Calgary

Add height to the Calgary red and take height away from the Vancouver red and you get the reality.