Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[Darkoshvilli]

Montreal is all about different styles, architecture, density, aesthetics, etc. As long as nothing can be taller than our precious little mountain you can forget about height.

[caltrane74]

Montreal is better at street level.

[Darkoshvilli]

What bugs me as a skyscraper lover is the mountain is 236m tall. Im not asking for a supertall here but a nice 220m tower would have been sweet. I guess the demand isn't there.

[TownGuy]

Not quite sure why but Montreal's skyline does little for me also, even with the new towers, not quite sure why, just lacks a certain X factor perhaps? It's in a distant 4th behind Calgary, but gaining, IMO.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Darkoshvilli

What bugs me as a skyscraper lover is the mountain is 236m tall. Im not asking for a supertall here but a nice 220m tower would have been sweet. I guess the demand isn't there.

Its weird that Montreal doesn't have that high demand for tower living dt the way toronto and vancouver does, considering montreal has the best urban vibe in the country.

If vancouver didnt have height limits, we would surely have 800 foot residenti towers lining our skyline.

[GreaterMontréal]

the view from Mont-Royal is not really great.

Its weird that Montreal doesn't have that high demand for tower living dt the way toronto and vancouver does

the towers are coming, by 2019, 10 new towers near the Bell Centre. Griffintown is booming but no skyscraper allowed there. The downtown population is still above 120k.

[davidivivid]

Pictures by Emmanuel Coveney:


















https://www.facebook.com/emmanuelcoveneyphotographe/?fref=ts

[Metro-One]

Great set of Quebec City! Some really nice colours.

[Monolith]

Lights of the Northwest by lostcat media, on Flickr Taken on July 9, 2016

[rbt]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Montreal is better at street level.

On select streets. There is no shortage of crappy streets through the central core. On par it might be better but any kind of a comparison becomes tricky to prevent comparing a good street to a poor one.

Manhattan has the same issue IMO. The great Ave's are really great; the poor ones seem particularly bad.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

the view from Mont-Royal is not really great.


the towers are coming, by 2019, 10 new towers near the Bell Centre. Griffintown is booming but no skyscraper allowed there. The downtown population is still above 120k.

This is true and I keep saying it on this board: the skyline view from the lookout isn't the best. The mtl skyline is at its best when viewed from the bridges and from a boat on the river. I totally agree that viewed from the main mountain lookout it looks underwhelming.
One main flaw with this view is that you can't see your de la Bourse as it is hidden PVM. The Bourse is one of this country's finest modernist towers.

And of course, there's nothing I'd like to see more than a nice shinny 220-275m tower in dt. The best place to build such a tower is on CN'S parking bunker on de la Gauchetiere street. If you build it any lower you'll stunt it's height effect.

[Mrs Sauga]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I know I'm going to get absolutely destroyed over this and I have no intention of starting a flame war, but Montreal's skyline really does nothing for me. Any angle with the Jacques Cartier bridge is better, but the DT core just really doesn't appeal to me. Don't get me wrong, I love Montreal from the street and really like buildings like Le Batman, 1501 McGill College, the Aldred building, 1250 Rene Levesque and of course the countless cathedral spires, but 1000 de la Gauchetiere, PVM and Tour de la Bourse bore me. Even new additions like Tour des Canadiens bore me. I can't put my finger on it but the skyline (DT core) just looks dated and boring to my eyes. Again, I love the city from the street and really love the buildings up close, but from afar it just looks.... .

Edit: Looking at that last pic by SkahHigh I think I figured out what it needs. Something nice and tall and WHITE. All the concrete and stone and 80's Pomo needs something sleek and modern and bright to break through.

I find all of the potential second place skyline (after Toronto) does nothing for me to be honest. Each can make a case to being "#2" but each have a very major flaw(s). Montreal is definitely dated looking and has way to many gaps. Calgary has a nice continuous wall of skyscrapers but lacks the urban surrounding and looks small in area. Vancouver to me is the weakest of the bunch. The shape is nice, but the buildings are so skinny and short and lacking in signature office towers.

[Martin Mtl]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHvKe9Zj-qj/?taken-by=nd4o


https://www.instagram.com/p/BHvXEFgD5ly/?taken-by=syletellier


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https://www.instagram.com/p/BFd_C-am3i3/?taken-by=b.presence


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5bFgWh-hp/?taken-by=johnnysyriani


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5bQEYDdtr/?taken-by=lauriannepilon


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5gufQA2jB/?taken-by=gracemarconi


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5h53xAAKj/?taken-by=fatma_khazala


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5l2VQjthS/?taken-by=diyasenp


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5iJP6jRhy/?taken-by=tk_voom24


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https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5jsu1hYKR/?taken-by=coolnamesaretaken


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH05r1Bgpb7/?taken-by=elidrouin


https://www.instagram.com/p/BH59N-Nh5vo/?tagged=livemontreal

[Nouvellecosse]

What I always enjoyed about Montreal is that it did such a good job of controlling the "weeds'. It was traditionally dominated by a small number of large, high-quality landmark office buildings, and low quality filler such as commie blocks, spandrel clad residential, or bland, anonymous office blocks were kept small as to not challenge the landmark buildings' dominance. In fact, the "gaps" in the skyline that people often mention really helped to reinforce this.

That's why I'm somewhat wary of Montreal's current crop of weeds popping up. Buildings like L'Avenue, Tour des Canadiens, and Le Roccabella may not be bad, but they pale in terms of their gravitas and iconic presence compared to the likes of PVM and Tour de la Bourse. Yet they're close enough in size to visually compete. I actually wish these newcomers had been more in the 100-120m range, and left the 150+ role to those of elevated calibre.

The only problem is that I just don't know when we could expect buildings of both that size and that calibre to start showing up again. And I suppose there's something to be said for skyline growth and expansion.

[niwell]

Montreal is still solidly my second fave skyline in Canada. The view coming across the river from the south is incredible. First being going down Dundas West in Toronto around Dufferin where the entirety of the skyline seems to loom down over you.

[Marshal]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

What I always enjoyed about Montreal . . .

I also like the gaps for this reason and have always liked the multiple focal points. The experience of the city is complicated by these: downtown views often include these spaces and the identifiable groups of buildings "over there." Moving about heightens this even more. In Calgary/Vancouver you are largely inside the centre looking out or the opposite. In Montreal you can be in the centre and looking over at another part of the centre at the same time. Toronto has a similar thing but the scale is different/larger in size and distance (The Bloor area and downtown). Vancouver and Toronto also have a similar thing but at a more distant scale: downtowns and large suburban clusters.

As with buildings and local urban spaces, empty space is a big contributor to the dynamic experience of skylines. I find that this is a forgotten, not yet considered, or undervalued concept on this forum.

There is some relation to other kinds of formal compositions: white space in poetry, empty time in music and film, blank space in terms of figure ground in graphic composition, even in industrial design: clothing has heightened areas of intensity/detail/trim/colour (think of a simple shirt cuff) and more empty like extension (think of the sleeve); or the bodywork of a car: extension over the flat (relative) surface of the panels, and then the convolutions bendings, intensifications, and and additions of different materials at edges, openings, etc. Hopefully you're still awake, because this is also part of nature: take a femur: complexity at the ends where the action takes place, and 'empty' extension in between in order to put the complex parts where they need to be.

OK, I'm done - back to the fun stuff.

Almost forgot: all the construction in Montreal is exciting to see, but I agree that it is the start of the dismantling of this quality.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Oh I agree Montreal has a ton of depth and character. Way more than a young prairie city could ever have. The skyline just isn't the best looking to me. I think the reason I was saying something tall and white was so it could contrast the rest of DT and hopefully take the focus off of 1000 de la Gauchetiere (which has been front and centre for far too long imo). I'd love to see Montreal get something CRAZY in its DT. It always astounds me that for how much more expressive and risque Montreal can be compared to the rest of the country it has fairly conservative looking skyscrapers. It needs something by BIG or SOM that adds a futuristic element to the mix. If you look at what they're doing in Philadelphia with some of their new proposals or San Francisco that's more what I'd like to see built in Montreal.

I actually don't find Montreal's skyscrapers conservative considering their eras. SOM delivers a very conservative, corporate look. One of the last firms you hire for "Crazy".

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I actually don't find Montreal's skyscrapers conservative considering their eras. SOM delivers a very conservative, corporate look. One of the last firms you hire for "Crazy".

I was thinking more about stuff they've done like the Pearl River Tower, the Al Haram or the proposal for the Salesforce tower in San Francisco. 707 5th in Calgary is turning out amazing and would look fantastic as a new tallest.

[WhipperSnapper]

A building could be both great and conservative. 707 Fifth fits that mold.

There is absolutely no way to make 707 Fifth any taller and certainly not a new tallest without changing everything about it. The floor plan is barely functional for commercial office space as is. It would have to be widened.

[travis3000]

As a skyline, Montreal certainly doesn't have the huge height and wow factor. But I still really like the skyline, especially from Old Port looking into the city, or on top of Mount Royal. It's a very unique skyline, it has character and soul which makes up for height.

Street level is where Montreal kicks ass. #1 in Canada IMO, no other city makes me want to get on my feet and explore more than Montreal. The sheer diverse architecture, the churches, old Montreal mixed in with newer towers, the cobblestone, the cool French vibe and the way they light up all the buildings, public art displays. Always been my fav place in Canada to explore on street level.