Canadian Skyline Thread III

[Rico Rommheim]

DSC00062 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


DSC00068 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


DSC00073 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

[craner]

Definitely not Calgary on the lakes front.
Mountain hikes - yes.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

As a Torontonian, I think we can call a spade a spade: the opportunity to do outdoor recreational activities is below the Canadian average here.

That said, I don't know how Calgarians would have the same access to boatable, swimmable lakes/bodies of water/whatever that Torontonians do.

So maybe not Calgary, then!

[kool maudit]

I know this is my early-era SSP forumer speaking here (more towers! more height! more more more!) but Westmount Square always seemed like a consolation prize.

[Kilgore Trout]

They're both very nice, but I like that Westmount Square is residential, which gives it an interesting dynamic compared to most of his black towers.

I was quite disappointed by Illinois Center and (former) IBM Plaza in Chicago. They feel too heavy and hemmed-in. Both the TD Centre and Westmount Square make great use of open space and smaller volumes at the bottom of the towers. When all your buildings look the same this spatial aspect becomes what is most important.

[WhipperSnapper]

In Toronto, The traffic to get to those lakes for boating has gotten progressive worse each year since I first went as a teenager. Now It's virtually gridlock. 2 hours 25 years ago is now approaching 4 hours. No wonder my family's unfinished 3 bedroom box on cinder block posts purchased for the priced of a luxury GM sedan has been demolished for a huge 6 figure house with central HVAC. It can be more than a weekend retreat.

[MolsonExport]

Lake Ontario ain't the best for swimming (unless you go far to the east, at Sandbanks PP). Huron is much better (and Georgian Bay).

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

DSC00073 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Love this shot - density and horizontal layers, layers, layers!

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

As a Torontonian, I think we can call a spade a spade: the opportunity to do outdoor recreational activities is below the Canadian average here.

That said, I don't know how Calgarians would have the same access to boatable, swimmable lakes/bodies of water/whatever that Torontonians do.

Like it was mentioned earlier, I think our access to regional natural areas by way of GO transit makes up for this. At least, it's a start anyway.

I've been more than grateful to go to say, Bronte Creek or the Niagara Escarpment over the last year on multiple occasions (with the latter) for a day trip and discover a little more of the GTHA. There's definitely some good fishing spots around too, but it doesn't take much to find them I find.

I agree with zoomer in that last image, the layers and density in that shot, while perhaps not as dramatic as other cities, is quite impressive.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I know this is my early-era SSP forumer speaking here (more towers! more height! more more more!) but Westmount Square always seemed like a consolation prize.

That's Toronto-Dominion Centre in Toronto, unless you intended to post that. Royal York hotel in the background on the left, and this building on the right.

I appreciate both. And I dislike that the Toronto-Dominion complex is getting "hemmed in" and has become so much less visible from many skyline angles.

Westmount Square... no small consolation!!!

Source Wiki

[thomax]

Toronto Skyline viewed from 50 Point Conservation Area | 2/5/2024 by Joe, on Flickr


Mississauga Skyline viewed from 50 Point Conservation Area | 2/5/2024 by Joe, on Flickr


Burlington Skyline viewed from Confederation Park | 1/29/2024 by Joe, on Flickr

[MolsonExport]

What were they thinking when they ran those power pylons down the waterfront?

[savevp]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

What were they thinking when they ran those power pylons down the waterfront?

It's actually a narrow causeway connecting the Niagara Peninsula with the north shore of Lake Ontario. Hamilton Harbour is on the other side, as well as Hamilton itself. So nowhere else to put them really.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

That's Toronto-Dominion Centre in Toronto, unless you intended to post that. Royal York hotel in the background on the left, and this building on the right.

I appreciate both. And I dislike that the Toronto-Dominion complex is getting "hemmed in" and has become so much less visible from many skyline angles.

Westmount Square... no small consolation!!!

Source Wiki

When I thought of Westmount Square and comparables, my mind immediately went to the Seagram Building in Manhattan.

[ScreamingViking]

This was posted in the Windsor Talk thread of the Ontario sub.

Originally Posted by Symz

Here is a nice Windsor skyline shot at sunset taken from Belle Isle. The new Gordie Howe bridge can also be seen in the picture. The photos are from a group named Detroit Photography on Facebook.

[Rico Rommheim]

I'm just glad our city has got a few Mies buildings, underwhelming or not.

Some lesser know Mies buildings includes 3 identical apartment buildings on Nun's Island:






https://www.bwalk.com/en-ca/blog/nun...ies-buildings/

And the famous gas station (now community centre)



If that's a consolation prize, I'll take it.

[thewave46]

There's just something about Westmount Square.

It's '60s, but timeless. There's a solidity to it that it'll be around for a long while, but without the ugliness of Brutalism. It's minimalistic and clean, not cluttered.

There was a certain era of late-'60s cars that embodied the same aesthetic. Not chromey like the '50s, nor faux-ostentatious like the '70s. Cars with good proportions and clean lines.

I always try and remember that even though the pictures and aesthetic of the '60s were cool, it was most definitely a dirtier and grimier era. I try and imagine the vague hint of cigarette smoke on everything, the less manicured appearance of people, the haze of unburned hydrocarbons and filth from every car. It helps keep the reality of the era intact in my mind.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by thewave46

I always try and remember that even though the pictures and aesthetic of the '60s were cool, it was most definitely a dirtier and grimier era. I try and imagine the vague hint of cigarette smoke on everything, the less manicured appearance of people, the haze of unburned hydrocarbons and filth from every car. It helps keep the reality of the era intact in my mind.

That also helps you understand why modernism was so appealing in the first place. People today think of it as needlessly doing away with ornamentation and traditional building styles, but in the postwar era, everything old was gross, grimy, dirty and falling apart. The charming old buildings we cherish today were covered in decades of pollution. Old neighbourhoods were poor and squalid. It's easy to understand why modernists were so keen on a clean break from the past. A building like Westmount Square would have been like a cold glass of water on a hot day.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

That also helps you understand why modernism was so appealing in the first place. People today think of it as needlessly doing away with ornamentation and traditional building styles, but in the postwar era, everything old was gross, grimy, dirty and falling apart. The charming old buildings we cherish today were covered in decades of pollution. Old neighbourhoods were poor and squalid. It's easy to understand why modernists were so keen on a clean break from the past. A building like Westmount Square would have been like a cold glass of water on a hot day.

Yes and it also helps explain why a lot of Modernsim doesn't work that well. Modernism was a response to a specific time and circumstance and doesn't always make sense divorced from its context. Sleek, shiny, simplicity provided relief from the endless dull earth tones of masonry and associated clutter / ornamentation through its contrast with them. It was like a desert oasis in contrast to the surrounding desert. But a bunch of modernist structures on their own loses the effect much the way a desert oasis loses much of its excitement in a landscape of wetlands. It's why legacy masonry buildings can also be like an oasis in the midst of a sea of glass and steel. Like spotting an island of dry land after being lost at sea.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I know this is my early-era SSP forumer speaking here (more towers! more height! more more more!) but Westmount Square always seemed like a consolation prize.

Ottawa's consolation prize was Place de Ville, scaled down to protect Parliamentary supremacy.

First phase was two black 22 floor office towers that look like a budget Mies and a pre-cast hotel. Second phase was a 29 floor bronze office tower (lost its luster over the years), a 26 storey hotel with rotating restaurant and three story "podium" (not actually the podium of any of the buildings) with offices surrounding a piggy-back cinema.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_Ville

It was literally advertised as "Ottawa's answer to Toronto Dominion and Place Ville-Marie".

Initial proposal was much taller. The bronze tower was supposed to be simmilar to Tour de la Bourse in Montreal.

Backgrond:

https://urbsite.blogspot.com/2021/10...-place-de.html