Best European Skyline 2025

[KlausD2]

by Balkanunion, SSC

[KlausD2]

P1011878 by Geogregor*, auf Flickr


P1011876 by Geogregor*, auf Flickr


P1011865 by Geogregor*, auf Flickr


P1011873 by Geogregor*, auf Flickr


P1011871 by Geogregor*, auf Flickr


P1011927 by Geogregor*, auf Flickr

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Source: VK.com | VK

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Brussels by Gert Vanhaecht, auf Flickr


by Pitchoune, SSC


source: https://www.vma.be/fr/secteurs/batiments-de-bureaux/


by Pitchoune, SSC

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by hkskyline, SSC

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by Adama, DAF



by Serendip, DAF

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by Rune Johansen

www.linkedin.com/
www.linkedin.com/

Postbyen.





Carlsberg Byen.

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https://www.instagram.com/nowawarszawa/

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Kalasatama / Sompasaari by Safa Hovinen, auf Flickr

[KlausD2]

Batumi, Georgia by Panagiotis Papadopoulos, auf Flickr


Aerial view of modern buildings in Batumi against sky by Panagiotis Papadopoulos, auf Flickr


Aerial view of modern buildings in Batumi against sky by Panagiotis Papadopoulos, auf Flickr


High angle view of Batumi against sky by Panagiotis Papadopoulos, auf Flickr


by punisher11, SSC

[KlausD2]

Frankfurt Skyscrapers by Aviller71, auf Flickr


Frankfurt Skyline by Aviller71, auf Flickr

[KlausD2]

Four, Frankfurt

by Adama, DAF

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by cabasse

here's my unpopular opinion, (probably) but moscow doesn't really impress me - the main skyline (MCC) is a very tight cluster of supertalls, but it quickly drops off outside of that. i do like the designs of some of the individual buildings (mercury tower especially) but it's not proportional at all, and the rest of the tall buildings outside the core are mostly ugly and very spread out.

Yeah. Never understood why some people like the Moscow skyline (if you can call that a skyline at all). It's rather ugly, and trying too much to "show off", like some dystopian oligarch new city in Central Asia.

Ditto for the City of London: try as they might, their skyline remains ugly. I don't understand how they can authorize so many ugly skyscrapers there. It's as if they are trying too hard to come with "original" geometries which end up rather ugly all put together.

The two beautiful skylines in Europe remain, as ever, Frankfurt and La Défense (with Frankfurt slightly superior to La Défense due to higher elevations even though it doesn't have the density of La Défense).

Canary Wharf and Istanbul are... okeyish but nothing exceptional. Lots of towers for sure, but nothing really standing out, and not particularly appealing or leaving a deep imprint in the mind. Ditto for Warsaw to a smaller extent.

Among the smaller skylines, Rotterdam is the most interesting (I like The Hague's skyline too). They are paying great attention to the quality of the cladding and finishing touches, which other cities could draw some inspiration from.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by JManc

As for Paris, I read the ground was porous plus the catacombs make skyscrapers difficult there.

This isn't the reason why the City of Paris proper has few skyscrapers. The reason is an opposition to tall buildings when elevators could have finally made skyscrapers feasible in Paris (around 1900, when the first projects for skyscrapers in the Opéra area appeared, but triggered vocal opposition from various groups).

The New York Times reported about it at the time:





Paris is a "victim" of its beauty. Haussmann made it too perfect and harmonious, so people after Haussmann were not keen to destroy that harmony with tall buildings.

And today, as Mousquet said, there's a general opposition to tall buildings even outside the central historical area. France in the past 15 years has been completely taken over by the Green lobby, the French public medias (TV and radio) broadcast Green activist programs everyday, it's a complete brainwashing, so the French population (particularly in big cities) is now hostile to: private automobiles, air conditioning, and of course skyscrapers. Skyscrapers are seen here as heretical in a time of global warming. It's ridiculous, but that's the way it is, and I don't see how you can change the mind of the population unless they stop all that brainwashing in the public media.

So there are lots of new developments in the suburbs, but they are all mid-rise developments. Anything taller than 8 floors is taboo. It's maddening how they waste precious space around the new Métro station under construction in the suburbs with subpar mid-rise buildings. I don't see how the situation could change in the near future.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by KlausD2

True, but I'm posting it here because Turkey is also part of Europe, both culturally and geographically, and it would be unfair not to include all cities in a country.

If Turkey is "culturally" part of Europe, then Morocco is also culturally part of Europe. Feel free to post pictures of the beautiful new skyscrapers in Rabat (which are far better looking than those of Izmir or Istanbul).

[KlausD2]

I agree with the unusual designs in the City of London. The buildings don't really seem to fit together.

Far too many wedge-shaped towers so as not to obscure the view of St. Paul.
The new 22 Bishopsgate looks at some perspectives like a cupboard/closet that seems to crush the other buildings around it.


I don't really have much to criticize about the Moscow International Business Center. The overall picture is much more coherent here and the designs also harmonize better with each other.
It is too dominant in relation to its surroundings with its densely packed supertalls, but this could change in the future if lower high-rise buildings are built around it.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by KlausD2

I agree with the unusual designs in the City of London. The buildings don't really seem to fit together.

Far too many wedge-shaped towers so as not to obscure the view of St. Paul.

Ironically the only interesting (and beautiful) skyscraper in London, the so-called Shard, stands completely isolated outside of any cluster, like the Montparnasse Tower in Paris.

The beauty, balance and harmony of a skyline remains a mystery. There are some cities where it just "works" (Hong Kong, Frankfurt, La Défense, Lower Manhattan), and there are some cities where, try as they might, it just doesn't work (Beijing, City of London, Tokyo, I would also add Shanghai Pudong even if some would disagree).

[KlausD2]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

T

And today, as Mousquet said, there's a general opposition to tall buildings even outside the central historical area. France in the past 15 years has been completely taken over by the Green lobby, the French public medias (TV and radio) broadcast Green activist programs everyday, it's a complete brainwashing, so the French population (particularly in big cities) is now hostile to: private automobiles, air conditioning, and of course skyscrapers. Skyscrapers are seen here as heretical in a time of global warming. It's ridiculous, but that's the way it is, and I don't see how you can change the mind of the population unless they stop all that brainwashing in the public media.

We have the same problem here in Germany.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by KlausD2

We have the same problem here in Germany.

I know, but the big difference of course is Paris is a megacity with the largest economy in Europe, so it makes it particularly maddening to be stuck at mid-rise level by the pettiness and provinciality of people, much more so than, say, Munich or Cologne not being able to build skyscrapers. It's a complete waste of potential, and it doesn't make our surroundings better (far from it considering the ugliness of most mid-rise buildings they build; at least in Germany you guys build higher quality mid-rise buildings).

For an idea of what I mean, this is the sort of ugly stuff currently being promoted by the left-wing ideologues ruling the city. This building in the background is not from the 1970s, it was built after 2020, in the typical style they favor now for social housing in Paris (their goal is to pack the city with 40% of social housing, almost like in the former people's republics of Eastern Europe).



Another example. This isn't in some distant impoverished suburb but it's right in the 13th arrondissement of Paris proper. Modern high-rise buildings could do wonder there to rejuvenate these areas, but perish the thought!

[KlausD2]