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Calgary's skyline compared to others?

Your favourite skyline in Canada?


  • Total voters
    54
While Toronto added a lot of density to it's skyline over the last decade, that density unfortunately covered up a few iconic elements to the skyline: the Royal York hotel, and the five distinctly designed (and coloured) bank buildings. Nonetheless, it remains the most iconic skyline in Canada and among the most iconic in the world (as can be seen over at UrbanToronto.ca: http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/toronto-skyline.8967/page-121#post-1250476)

Calgary's skyline is great (2nd place, in my view), but the Bow Tower does give it a bit of a lopsided look, sitting off on the eastern side. The Bow also doesn't have a particularly elegant profile.
Toronto's skyline is pretty epic for sure. If I had it my way, I would have no CN Tower in the mix, and the office towers a little more to the north. It would be my favourite hands down, and one of my top 5 in the world.
 
Toronto's skyline is pretty epic for sure. If I had it my way, I would have no CN Tower in the mix, and the office towers a little more to the north. It would be my favourite hands down, and one of my top 5 in the world.

No CN Tower??!? Blasphemy! I used to regard all of these neo-futurist towers as tacky (and still do for many of them), but I've come to see the CN Tower as a particularly elegant example of that genre. And tacky or not, since it will likely never be matched by any of the surrounding buildings, it will give the skyline its distinctive look for the foreseeable future.
 
I always felt like the CN Tower overshadowed the rest of the skyline, and made the rest of the skyline not look as large as it deserves.... I guess it was in the centre of the skyline I would probably like it more.
 
I always felt like the CN Tower overshadowed the rest of the skyline, and made the rest of the skyline not look as large as it deserves.... I guess it was in the centre of the skyline I would probably like it more.

I've heard the "overshadowed" sentiment before. I've also heard people dismissively say "one building does not make a skyline", perhaps not realizing that the rest of the skyline is in the +200m range.

I've always found the off-centre layout of the skyline aesthetically pleasing: SkyDome, CN Tower, Financial district (low, high, mid). Though, the condo boom has changed this layout quite a bit, putting the CN Tower more in the center. I like Chicago's skyline for the same reason. The Sears and Hancock Towers are like bookends that give the skyline its distinct layout.
 
I've heard the "overshadowed" sentiment before. I've also heard people dismissively say "one building does not make a skyline", perhaps not realizing that the rest of the skyline is in the +200m range.

I've always found the off-centre layout of the skyline aesthetically pleasing: SkyDome, CN Tower, Financial district (low, high, mid). Though, the condo boom has changed this layout quite a bit, putting the CN Tower more in the center. I like Chicago's skyline for the same reason. The Sears and Hancock Towers are like bookends that give the skyline its distinct layout.
I've heard the same sentiment too. A while back on SSC there were some pics of the Toronto skyline with the CN Tower photoshopped out, and it made the other buildings seem taller. With the height of the CN Tower the photographer has to zoom out a fair bit to get everything into the shot which takes away some of the detail of the other buildings.
 
I voted for Toronto. I understand where @Surrealplaces is coming from with regards to the CN Tower, but the skyline is simply too massive not to vote for it. Calgary is easily my second place vote. Montreal a close third.
 
Hey how do you guys think Canadian skylines, more specifically Calgary's stacks up against Australian and American skylines? I like to think that per capita we easily hold our own but Australia has some impressive skylines and seems to have more super tall and super tall proposals.
 
Hey how do you guys think Canadian skylines, more specifically Calgary's stacks up against Australian and American skylines? I like to think that per capita we easily hold our own but Australia has some impressive skylines and seems to have more super tall and super tall proposals.
IMO, Canada does quite well compared to Australian skylines. Melbourne and Gold Coast have tall towers, but I'm not a fan of the Gold coast skyline, too many buildings that look the same....reminds me of Miami's skyline. I would say Toronto is as good or better than Melbourne and Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver hold their own against Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.
 
I like the new Skyline view from the Beltline Safeway with the addition of the hotels and the Lamb. A lot of black buildings in that shot.

For me Vancouver is #1 because of how the picture is framed.
 
Yea I would agree we hold our own against Australian cities for sure. For me I inherently have to take into consideration populations and in this case not really regarding cities (which probably makes more sense) but in terms of countries. I think Australia is pretty impressive over all considering they only have two thirds the population of Canada. I think the reason I think like that is because Calgary, being my home city, might not stack up well against the NYCs, Toronto's or Chicago's of the world straight across, but if you take into consideration our population compared to the aforementioned cities we hold our own quite well.
 
I chose Calgary, but it was kind of a 3 way tie between Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. I like all three for different reasons. I've never liked Vancouver's skyline, IMO it only looks good when the mountains are in the shot and can take away from the monotony. Edmonton's was okay, but I'm liking it less now with the new towers. It looks badly unbalanced.
 
Toronto unquestionably #1, Calgary easily #2, Montreal #3 (but arguably #2 depending on criteria), Vancouver #4, Edmonton #5, Winnipeg and London tied for #6, Quebec City #8, Halifax #9, and Hamilton #10.
 
Some days I choose Toronto just because of its sheer size, and other days Calgary or Montreal because of their symmetry and overall look with their surroundings. Vancouver without the mountains and water is completely uninteresting to me.
 

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