Your city's best highrises by year

dleung · #1 Posted **Jun 2, 2015, 2:30 AM**

Thought it would be interesting to tally up Vancouver's infamous architectural diversity, and see which buildings were most ahead of their time.

It's always funny (and sad) to see buildings from 20+ years ago looking better than some of the ones under construction today. Listed chronologically starting from roughly one generation ago.

Please use a similar formatting, and picture size, to not overload the thread! Photos only, no renders.

1993: James Cheng's breakthrough year; the birth of the dreaded green glass
1995: That crown started here, actually it was Westendstrasse 1 in Germany, or 1250 Rene Levesque, but tons of condo towers are doing this style, inferior versions in Burnaby currently under construction
1998: Throw back Mies/Bauhaus before it was cool again
2003: The Art Gallery of Ontario, standing vertically

Stray observations:
-Lots of sharp knife-edges' and pointy prows
-9 of the towers have a lean or twist to its facades
-almost none of the towers have a rectangular floorplate; the massing is always optimized to respond to context, views, neighbouring buildings, view cones, etc.

Coldrsx · #2 Posted **Jun 2, 2015, 2:40 AM**

1997 was a great vintage

dleung · #3 Posted **Jun 2, 2015, 7:14 PM**

That's a great block with that tower along with the cube building, both suspended and floating like above the ground like trees, so that, due to the grade, one can see across the whole block to the water/mountains beyond.

Boris2k7 · #4 Posted **Jun 2, 2015, 10:08 PM**

2006-2008

2009-2011

2012-2014

2015
Pending

IMAGE CREDITS

1ST ROW (L-R)
2006 Chocolate Condo Calgary Real Estate by Calgary Photos | Real Estate Photographers, on Flickr
2007 Centrium Place, almost finished construction by LUMIN8, on Flickr
2008* Stella by Qualex Landmark by Calgary Photos | Real Estate Photographers, on Flickr

2ND ROW (L-R)
2009 Colours by Battistella Calgary Condo by Calgary Photos | Real Estate Photographers, on Flickr
2010 Hôtel Le Germain (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) by AuthentikCanada, on Flickr
2011 EAP 1 and 2 by LUMIN8, on Flickr

3RD ROW (L-R)
2012 The Bow Tower Calgary. by Bernard Spragg, on Flickr
2013** Calla by Construction Mania, on Flickr
2014 Mustard Seed by Construction Mania, on Flickr

* The one we are looking at for this year, pictured, is Nova
** Nice looking tower with some unfortunate building envelope issues

SHOFEAR · #5 Posted **Jun 2, 2015, 10:54 PM**

Vancouver 2010 looks like Edmonton 1991

source http://images.century21.ca/Listings/...bgcolor=000000

crazycrazydoesdoes · #6 Posted **Jun 3, 2015, 5:00 PM**

Wow that's a tough first act to follow. Hands down 2003 for the win!

dleung · #7 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 2:52 AM**

Interesting choices Boris. I'm surprised you didn't prefer the Courts Center, Centennial Place, or Keynote, over the ones you chose for those years.

The crickets are really chirping here though

hipster duck · #8 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 3:00 AM**

I'm not a big fan of Vancouver's modern highrises. I think that the planning department's heavy hand usually forces designs that try to cover all the bases (view cone, the inclusion of townhomes in the podium, some kind of landscaping and water feature) and end up doing everything sort of half-assed, kind of like those combination printer-scanners you regret buying.

That said, I really like the Trump building. This might be because the Trump building is emphatically a highrise to be viewed from a distance, and no amount of community amenity contributions or design reviews can screw that up.

I really like the Woodwards tower looking down Cordova street. It really captures that turn of the century audacity that characterizes early Vancouver highrises like the Sun tower and the Dominion Building*. Viewed from the north or south, it's kind of a slabby dud.

*On that note, I think that Vancouver's few early highrises are very underrated in Canada. Neither Montreal, Toronto or Winnipeg - all of which were bigger cities - have anything like the Sun tower; an octagonal salt shaker topped by a copper dome supported by Caryatids. They mostly just had Beaux Arts boxes. Also, the Marine building is the handsomest art deco tower in Canada. Unlike Commerce Court North, it's actually deco to the bone.

Boris2k7 · #9 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 3:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dleung

Interesting choices Boris. I'm surprised you didn't prefer the Courts Center, Centennial Place, or Keynote, over the ones you chose for those years.

The crickets are really chirping here though

IMO the only thing that redeems that Courts Centre is the atrium... otherwise it's a pretty chunky fortress. For 2010, Le Germain just stands out more than Centennial Place and Keynote is truly something different for Calgary.

Le Germain by BigtimeYYC, on Flickr

The light peaks through by Etownbeatdown, on Flickr

niwell · #10 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 1:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

IMO the only thing that redeems that Courts Centre is the atrium... otherwise it's a pretty chunky fortress. For 2010, Le Germain just stands out more than Centennial Place and Keynote is truly something different for Calgary.

While true, I'm not exactly sure that's a good thing! I personally can't stand the complex - although the podium is the main thing that ruins it for me. Unless we are talking about a different Keynote that looks good

Le Germain definitely stands out in 2010 for me.

This is a cool thread idea but a bit daunting to try and do a list for Toronto!

WhipperSnapper · #11 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 3:06 PM**

Copy and paste the Pug Award winners.

Agree with 1997 being a vintage year followed by 2009. Centrium and The Bow for Calgary.

Boris2k7 · #12 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 4:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

While true, I'm not exactly sure that's a good thing! I personally can't stand the complex - although the podium is the main thing that ruins it for me. Unless we are talking about a different Keynote that looks good

Le Germain definitely stands out in 2010 for me.

This is a cool thread idea but a bit daunting to try and do a list for Toronto!

Take note kids, this is why punctuation is important...

"IMO the only thing that redeems that Courts Centre is the atrium... otherwise it's a pretty chunky fortress. For 2010, Le Germain just stands out more than Centennial Place and Keynote, and is truly something different for Calgary."

Now I'm going to be associated with praising Keynote. Ugh.

Edit: Also want to note that, for all the construction in Calgary over the last decade... not that many highrises completed in any given year. For 2014, I chose the Mustard Seed housing project. The alternatives were EAP II (already gave the taller tower a spot on the list in 2011, Alura and Aura (really garish), and Drake (boring, and a lot of beige spandrel). For earlier years like 2005, there isn't even a point in picking out a winner for Calgary... they were all pretty awful.

GlassCity · #13 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 5:06 PM**

What's the building in 2011 dleung? I don't recognise it at all.

FrankieFlowerpot · #14 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 5:14 PM**

West Pender Place I think

MonkeyRonin · #15 Posted **Jun 4, 2015, 6:01 PM**

Only went back as far as 2003. Not much to choose from before then.

2003: Pantages

DSC_6897 by Julien St-Pierre, on Flickr

2004: Waterclub Condominiums

http://www.downtownrealty.ca/bldg/8-york.htm

2005: One King West

http://www.leozhang.ca/images/condoDB/

2006: 180 Queen St. West

http://www.kpmb.com/index.asp?navid=30&fid1=0&fid2=38

2007: Spire

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/12/08/27/

2008: One St. Thomas

http://condosonyonge.com/location_it...-residences/71

2009: RBC

www.pugawards.com/pug/awards/hall

2010: X

http://yorkvilleluxuryrealestate.com...-bed-for-sale/

2011: Ritz Carlton

VIEW: Feeling Blue by Michael Muraz, on Flickr

2012: Shangri-La

Shangri-La Toronto_907 by Stephen Wilcox - Jetwashphotos.com (1.2 Million+), on Flickr

2013: MaRS

http://www.tmptoronto.com/portfolio/...ntre-phase-ii/

2014: River City Phase 1

www.pugawards.com/pug/awards/hall

2015: L Tower

Flatiron by Marcanadian, on Flickr

dleung · #16 Posted **Jun 5, 2015, 4:12 AM**

LOL at first glance I was thinking "oh crap he's starting from waaay back with the flatiron building"

Love Rivercity. Easily my favorite in Toronto. That project doesn't get enough love since the popular threads are all height based. I'm not a fan of Phase 2, but Phase 3 looks promising (horrible floorplans aside)

TorontoDrew · #17 Posted **Jun 5, 2015, 2:51 PM**

The quality of material on phase two is very impressive though. The transition from fully transparent glass to solid white panels is flawless. I think it will look much better when it's book-ended by both black towers. River City is also one of my favorite developments in the city. If only Liberty Village had been planned properly and designed like river city.