Canadian Skyline Thread III

[Nouvellecosse]

One thing I find about Toronto is that while it may not be the most colourful city, it is still fairly colourful at street level. Mostly due to the frequent pops of red from the buses and streetcars, the teal, orange, red and yellow from Beck's and Co-op cars, the store signs, and the street art in certain areas. But none of those things are very prominent from the air. It takes a pretty big mural like the Cohen one in Montreal or The Charleson building in Vancouver for that.

[Coldrsx]

A the winner of the blandest skyline award goes to Van... TORONTO!

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

A the winner of the blandest skyline award goes to Van... TORONTO!
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53616000904_87802c6e2a_b.jpg

Goals:


https://www.stockaerialphotos.com/media/382ecbfb-1377-4193-9ae6-779240271b79-downtown-edmonton

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Honestly, I don't think that's true. Things like the quality of the sidewalks, the presence or lack of utility wires, the quality of street furnishing and signage, how inviting the buildings are at street level... you aren't really going to see those very well from above. And sure, you can tell in those images that there are surface parking lots that won't be attractive at street level, but on the ground some of them seem to be obscured by things like hedges, evergreens, buildings, etc. while from the air the full extent is visible. And even without the surface parking, aerial views would still have the same same drab colour tones because the view is dominated by leafless tree canopies, roofs, roads, and highrises where you can see the tower facades but not anything inviting around the entrances. That happens a lot in Halifax from my experience. Aerial views capture a lot of stuff that's mostly hidden from the street. Stuff like parking behind buildings where from the street level you mostly just see is the buildings lining the street. And especially in winter since the leaf canopies that normally obscure wide roads from above suddenly reveal all the pavement.

I've also seen urban environments that look great from the street level but look like concrete jungles from above, especially those dominated by midrise and highrise buildings that are tall enough to obscure most of the trees. All you see is roofs and various rooftop equipment. On the other hand, low density suburban areas don't look good from either perspective in the winter, but they can look great from above in summer with lots of lush greenery while on the ground... bland, and repetitive.

Just going to have to agree to disagree then, I guess. I've never seen an environment that I liked at street level that I didn't also like from above; and I've never seen a place that looked bad from above that didn't also look bad at street level. On the flipside though, there are some places that look kinda cool from skyline/aerial views but suck on the ground (eg. Dubai).

[Maldive]

[QUOTE=MonkeyRonin;10175205]Goals:


https://www.stockaerialphotos.com/media/382ecbfb-1377-4193-9ae6-779240271b79-downtown-edmonton

^^^ Is this London, Ontario???

Didn't realize the Thames River was quite so curvy.... and where have all the trees gone?


Link

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Just going to have to agree to disagree then, I guess. I've never seen an environment that I liked at street level that I didn't also like from above; and I've never seen a place that looked bad from above that didn't also look bad at street level. On the flipside though, there are some places that look kinda cool from skyline/aerial views but suck on the ground (eg. Dubai).

Yes I'm sure some of it is down to personal taste. I'm personally influenced by the fact that Halifax tends to look horrible in winter aerials. I often think, "Is it really that ugly and underwhelming??" but then in person I don't find it that bad. It could also sometimes be the knowledge of the experience from the ground that influences how one feels about what they see from the air. Kind of like how, if I know a food or drink is nutritious that subconsciously makes it taste better to me, while knowing that it's empty calories or poses risks dampens my enjoyment since I care about that aspect of food. While someone else may just consider the taste strictly on its own merits. Psychology is weird...

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

A the winner of the blandest skyline award goes to Van... TORONTO!

If one literally puts the most distinctive tall structure in the country directly in the middle of the frame and then throws shade using 'bland' as a pejorative, what can one say, really?

I probably could frame a picture the Empire State Building with Hudson Yards and take a strip off New York City. Look at the ugly generic glass towers! It could be Jacksonville.



Except that absolutely no one would take me credibly on a skyscraper forum. Whatever makes people feel better about themselves, I suppose.

[Nouvellecosse]

Well yeah... the entertainment district is one of the blander parts of the skyline. But having the CN tower as the central focal point from that angle disqualifies it as the blandest imo. Although the drab grey day sure doesn't help lol.

[WhipperSnapper]

Skylines were expressions of commercial prowess for most of their existence and that is being conflated with today's residential skyscrapers. A residential skyscraper with 10 plus units per floor within a handshake of the next apartment skyscraper is the opposite of wealth and prestige.

[Martin Mtl]

https://www.instagram.com/k_photographyca/

[O-tacular]

Some nice pics by Disraeli on skyrise cities:

Bridgeland's mini skyline just north of DT:




East Village still has a lot of development to go:



https://calgary.skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/calgary-skylines.24432/page-55#post-2071569

[O-tacular]

https://calgary.skyrisecities.com/forum/...es-gibbs-gage.32858/page-18#post-2064789

[giallo]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

East Village still has a lot of development to go:



https://calgary.skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/calgary-skylines.24432/page-55#post-2071569

Wow. A ton of potential here. With Calgary's massive population boom, are there any cool developments proposed in this area?




Metrotown with downtown Vancouver in the background

[MonkeyRonin]

https://www.instagram.com/arjsun/


https://www.instagram.com/arjsun/


https://www.instagram.com/arjsun/


https://www.instagram.com/arjsun/


https://www.instagram.com/arjsun/

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

https://www.instagram.com/arjsun/

I love this. But it could still be improved.

1. More office towers
2. More art deco
3. Increase proportion of classic narrow bay-and-gable lowrise residential in foreground to 90%
4. Make all Victoria shopfront buildings two storeys higher
5. Make streets narrower
6. Replace grid plan with organically evolved medieval-style mess of streets like in London

That should do it.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by giallo

Wow. A ton of potential here. With Calgary's massive population boom, are there any cool developments proposed in this area?

It does but they've made an absolute disaster of their riverfront in that section. It's a chaotic mess of highway like overpasses on both sides. That may have passed muster before but if they have any designs on becoming a prominent city of consequence they'll need to tear it up and start over. They could learn a lot about how to design an interface between city and river by studying London's Embankment. I suspect it will take 40-50 years before Calgary re-builds it into an attractive urban space. I've thought about a move to Calgary but 40 years is too long to wait for urbanization.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by giallo

Wow. A ton of potential here. With Calgary's massive population boom, are there any cool developments proposed in this area?

Development in East Village stagnated with the pandemic but developers have bought some lots and the central part of it will have a pedestrian street that cuts through the whole village diagonally called the Riff.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Development in East Village stagnated with the pandemic but developers have bought some lots and the central part of it will have a pedestrian street that cuts through the whole village diagonally called the Riff.

That is very outdated. Missing the library and National Music Centre.

I do see that Verve Condos has the diagonal cut for the pedestrian street.

The blue buildings in the middle, what's that supposed to be?

[Maldive]

T.O.


NW87

kris

Closer

argus

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Maldive

T.O.


NW87

Love that! Wish Toronto kept more of the industrial grit from its past. Shiny glass condos are so much less interesting.

[Coldrsx]