Which Skyline do you like better? Toronto VS Philadelphia (safe, living, state)
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The CN Tower is the iconic structure of the Toronto skyline I agree, but take a look at these latest pics from Toronto. The construction boom is starting to carve a huge footprint in the DT core.. The city is gaining considerable density and height (however we do need a few supertalls imo to really compete). The classical view of our skyline is from the islands looking north showing the east/west line - yet the density is actually equally if not more impressive and best captured from the east or west showing the north/south line.
The point i'm making in here is that Toronto's skyline is truly being changed on a yearly basis - few cities in the world can make that claim right now and maintaining the same frozen in time view of a dynamic and growing skyline is ridiculous.
I agree. How can anything else compare with a 160 story tall tower? Plus its a really nicely designed structure. Without the CN tower, the Toronto skyline would be pretty unremarkable. But the tower makes it world class IMHO.
I read in the Toronto Star that there are currently 242 high rise condo towers under construction in Toronto area, with a total of 63,237 condo units, just amazing!
Last edited by JMT; 05-28-2013 at 07:58 AM..
Reason: Removed the quoted post which has since been deleted.
Even with a cooling down of the condo market there is still quite a bit of big proposals upstream... including more office towers and rental buildings... I think highrise construction is here to stay in Toronto - people just want to live Downtown!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PzKpfw
I read in the Toronto Star that there are currently 242 high rise condo towers under construction in Toronto area, with a total of 63,237 condo units, just amazing!
Obviously Toronto has a larger skyline. Third largest in North America. It should be compared to Chicago, not Philadelphia. However, I would definitely argue that Philadelphia has better architecture. Also, Philadelphia is definitely in the top 10 in North America.
Her is a video showing the density of a portion of Philadelphia's skyline
Toronto's architecture is mostly reflective when the booms in the city occur - Philly and typically American cities in general (the larger one's) have a stronger skyscraper heritage than Toronto and will have better 'classical' representation. Toronto is no slouch in that department but most are dwarfed by Modernism and Pomo type stuff. I've mentioned before however, we do have some impressive representation from the likes of I.M Pei, Durrel Stone, Van Der Rohe, Gehry, Libeskind, Rivell and Calavatra...not many cities can say that!
Toronto now needs to start looking at developing more prolific highrises from boxy to curvy and pointy (aside from CN Tower) though... we have enough boxy representation. There is some hope with new proposals and developments.
Last edited by JMT; 05-29-2013 at 08:07 PM..
Reason: Keep the thread about just Toronto and Philadelphia.
Obviously Toronto has a larger skyline. Third largest in North America. It should be compared to Chicago, not Philadelphia. However, I would definitely argue that Philadelphia has better architecture. Also, Philadelphia is definitely in the top 10 in North America.
Her is a video showing the density of a portion of Philadelphia's skyline
Nice video. We can argue skylines, but in terms of architectural mix Philly is one of the most impressive cities in North America, if not the world. There aren't many cities where you can walk in a matter of minutes from magnificent skyscrapers like the Comcast Center and One and Two Liberty Place to elegant 17th century rowhomes. I think I prefer Philly's skyline to Toronto's as well. Toronto's skyline looks nice from the northwest view but otherwise it strikes me as a bland and incoherent mess. There seems to have been no strategic thinking going into the development of that skyline whatsoever. Hopefully that will change in the years to come.
Philadelphia's skyline was certainly planned carefully. There was a height limit until 1987, where you could not build high than City Hall (548 ft). Even to this day, there are height limits in practically all of the city. Even in Center City, there are height limits in many neighborhoods to preserve the historic, charming, rowhome look.
Strategic thinking when developing a skyline - lol that is hilarious... they are developing buildings to meet market demand and not to create a 'strategic' skyline..
Thanks for the laugh though!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fitzrovian
There seems to have been no strategic thinking going into the development of that skyline whatsoever. Hopefully that will change in the years to come.
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