Great Canadian Skyline Thread II

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Yes, from Ontario.

I forgot the entire country is on fire right now.

[Harley613]

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[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Nite

Toronto - Yorkville
• Video Link

I alternate between fanboy and jaundice with Toronto's high-rise scene, but this is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, because the jumbled density is jaw-dropping.

Is it the drone effect? It does seem cinematic, what with the fresh angles and views of all the nifty balconies and rooftop stuff. But the scene starting at around 0:44 is a spectacular mish-mash of typologies, heights, footprints, quality...everything.

Is there anywhere as visually chaotic as Toronto? I'm looking for comparisons, and I'm not finding them. Sao Paolo? No; it's epic, but consistent. As are all of the major metropolises around the world, as best as I can tell. The only place with some resemblance to Toronto's haphazard visual melange seems to be London, specifically the City and a bit of the east end.

It may be a stretch, but you can almost see Toronto here if you blink.



https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.5124266,-0.0704821,299a,35y,39.34t/data=!3m1!1e3

[esquire]

Toronto is good at it but I don't necessarily think it's exceptional among cities once you hit a certain size, say, 5,000,000. It's a bit rare in North America because our urban population densities tend to be a bit lower but if you go to other continents you can see it... Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai come to mind as excellent examples.

[someone123]

Subtle local character aside Toronto has a fairly unique combo of historic growth patterns, urban orientation, and size. There are a number of old and urban, slow-growing American cities that don't build much these days. There are a bunch of new Sunbelt cities that are growing fast and very suburban.

Two roughly similar metros? Seattle and Monterrey?

[giallo]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Is there anywhere as visually chaotic as Toronto? I'm looking for comparisons, and I'm not finding them.

Chongqing says hello. Easily one of the most visually chaotic and insane cities I've ever visited. It's hard to find good photos of the chaos, so this drone video shall suffice.

• Video Link

[Architype]

Originally Posted by rousseau

...
Is there anywhere as visually chaotic as Toronto? ...

I've never thought of any city which is laid out on a basic grid system to be that chaotic.

[dtgeek]

Originally Posted by giallo

Chongqing says hello. Easily one of the most visually chaotic and insane cities I've ever visited. It's hard to find good photos of the chaos, so this drone video shall suffice.

• Video Link

Has a very sci-fi look, but feels a bit lackluster in terms of greenery and human scale features. Love the mixture of skyscrapers, mid-rises with green roofs, and houses in TO. It has a chaotic urban yet extremely pleasant vibe going on.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by dtgeek

Has a very sci-fi look, but feels a bit lackluster in terms of greenery and human scale features. Love the mixture of skyscrapers, mid-rises with green roofs, and houses in TO. It has a chaotic urban yet extremely pleasant vibe going on.

For what it's worth, Chongqing's human-scaled environment, like the human-scaled environment of basically every East Asian megalopolis, is far more chaotic and vibrant than any city in North America, except for New York City and Mexico City.

Chongqing is an incredible place. I haven't even talked about the food yet.

[giallo]

^ Indeed. Chongqing on the ground is so outside of anything we have in Canada in terms of scale and vibrancy, it's not even worth comparing.

But as you said, that's par for the course with any East Asian megacity.

Here's Jiefangbei, one of the many CBDs in Chongqing, and where I'd normally stay when visiting.

• Video Link

[rousseau]

I shouldn't have emphasized the skyline. I really meant the built form as a whole. Shanghai, Tokyo, Chongqing, New York, Paris etc. have the standard visual consistency that most cities have. Whatever chaotic madness they may have, there's a clear method in it.

Toronto has 19th century Victorian rowhouses next to early 20th century shopfronts next to commie blocks next to recent infill condo buildings of all shapes and sizes, all haphazardly jumbled together cheek-by-jowl in what appears to be a very unique mish-mash. Go to 0:44 in the video. Where else do you get this?

Before looking at 3D satellite views I'd thought maybe Sydney and/or Melbourne might be close analogues, but no, they're monolithic in the way that most cities generally are, with clearly defined interzone boundaries. Seems it would stand to reason that there would be an American city out there bearing some sort of resemblance to what Toronto has going on, but I'm coming up empty.

[rousseau]

I've always felt that Toronto's lack of northeastern seaboard-like development is a sticking point, making it a poor cousin to more visually consistent places like Montreal and Brooklyn that have real urban heft, but that video hit me in the aesthetic solar plexus. Seems like the jumble is reaching critical mass and turning into something distinctive and potentially arresting. At least in that video, anyway.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I shouldn't have emphasized the skyline. I really meant the built form as a whole. Shanghai, Tokyo, Chongqing, New York, Paris etc. have the standard visual consistency that most cities have. Whatever chaotic madness they may have, there's a clear method in it.

Toronto has 19th century Victorian rowhouses next to early 20th century shopfronts next to commie blocks next to recent infill condo buildings of all shapes and sizes, all haphazardly jumbled together cheek-by-jowl in what appears to be a very unique mish-mash. Go to 0:44 in the video. Where else do you get this?

Before looking at 3D satellite views I'd thought maybe Sydney and/or Melbourne might be close analogues, but no, they're monolithic in the way that most cities generally are, with clearly defined interzone boundaries. Seems it would stand to reason that there would be an American city out there bearing some sort of resemblance to what Toronto has going on, but I'm coming up empty.

I see what you mean.

Actually, I'd say Tokyo can feel pretty mishmash. That Toronto video at :44 feels like it could exist in Shibuya. Of course, there's no Victorian homes there, but parts of Tokyo can look very chaotic in regards to architecture and scale. You can be in the heart Shibuya, walk a few blocks south in to the alleys, and be in what feels like an almost suburban neighbourhood.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I shouldn't have emphasized the skyline. I really meant the built form as a whole. Shanghai, Tokyo, Chongqing, New York, Paris etc. have the standard visual consistency that most cities have. Whatever chaotic madness they may have, there's a clear method in it.

Toronto has 19th century Victorian rowhouses next to early 20th century shopfronts next to commie blocks next to recent infill condo buildings of all shapes and sizes, all haphazardly jumbled together cheek-by-jowl in what appears to be a very unique mish-mash. Go to 0:44 in the video. Where else do you get this?

Before looking at 3D satellite views I'd thought maybe Sydney and/or Melbourne might be close analogues, but no, they're monolithic in the way that most cities generally are, with clearly defined interzone boundaries. Seems it would stand to reason that there would be an American city out there bearing some sort of resemblance to what Toronto has going on, but I'm coming up empty.

In my honest opinion, basically every East Asian city (actually, basically every Asian city [don't even get me started on South and Central Asia]) are:

(a) haphazardly jumbled together cheek-by-jowl in a mish-mash (nicely put btw) on scale unimaginable by American or (especially) Canadian standards.

I suppose it depends on what one means by "visual consistency".

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

In my honest opinion, basically every East Asian city (actually, basically every Asian city [don't even get me started on South and Central Asia]) are:

(a) haphazardly jumbled together cheek-by-jowl in a mish-mash (nicely put btw) on scale unimaginable by American or (especially) Canadian standards.

I suppose it depends on what one means by "visual consistency".

I probably shouldn't have used the word "chaotic." What I'm getting at is the wide range of styles in Toronto that bump up against each other due to how the city is evolving. Developers aren't turning empty fields into streets and streets of brownstone rowhouses like in Brooklyn 150 years ago, but are transforming Toronto by means of infill projects on a scale, and with an impact, that I don't think is happening anywhere else.

As much as Hong Kong is a teeming metropolis, there's not a whole lot of variety going on here (don't mean that as a value judgment).


https://www.google.ca/maps/@22.3185661,114.16808,570a,35y,39.25t/data=!3m1!1e3

[Martin Mtl]

• Video Link

Some video captures of that video for eye candy.

[Coldrsx]

https://twitter.com/AshleyASalvador/status/1426022990697832450

[yaletown_fella]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I've always felt that Toronto's lack of northeastern seaboard-like development is a sticking point, making it a poor cousin to more visually consistent places like Montreal and Brooklyn that have real urban heft, but that video hit me in the aesthetic solar plexus. Seems like the jumble is reaching critical mass and turning into something distinctive and potentially arresting. At least in that video, anyway.

I agree that Toronto sorely lacks in prewar and classical midrise/highrise. And as a resident and classic architecture fan, Im very critical in this regard.

Although I would also argue that Toronto actually has the edge in sheer number of attractive upscale detached SFH inner-suburban neighbourhoods and punches above its weight in this regard, especially considering it was built so much later than Montreal and Brooklyn.

[MolsonExport]

Epic Rene Levesque canyon.