What's your favorite North American skyline?

[blakeaustin]

Dallas is boring I changed my mind, here's my new list of American skylines that i'm happy to call our own!
1| Miami
2| NYC
3| Austin

[blakeaustin]

I changed my mind and think Dallas is boring. Here's my new list of my fav American skylines! C:
1| Miami
2| NYC
3| Austin

[blakeaustin]

Oh sweet babies! I didn't mean to post twice! D:

[iloveclassicrock7]

Originally Posted by Avian001

^All good lists. Though perhaps I'd replace Honolulu with Philadelphia on the first list, like the others have done.

When I talk about my list, please keep in mind that this question is essentially about skyscrapers, simply because that building form is the one that forms a "skyline." I'm not addressing "street life" or "livability," because the original question deals with skyscraper aesthetics only!

What I like about some of these cities....in no particular order...

New York - What can I say? So many first-rate buildings that I could never add to what has already been said. The premier and iconic skyline of North America.

Chicago - Ditto. The City with Broad Shoulders has some of the best architecture on the continent. Better than New York in quality IMHO, but lesser in the sheer number of high rises.

Toronto - Actually a bit of a surprise. I've always had some reservations about the quality of the skyline (keep in mind that I mean quality of architecture and not necessarily height or number of buildings!). I guess I still do. If you take away the CN tower, I doubt many people could ever identify the silhouette of the skyline. (Yes, I realize that's true of several other cities as well. See below for another example.) Be that as it may, I still think it's in my Top Ten. Sorry if that sounds like a back-handed compliment. It's a great skyline nonetheless. One of the best.

Houston - Underrated in my opinion. Several great buildings by prominent architects. I think it may suffer from the perception that it is a nothing more than a vertical office park occupied only during the day by thousands of cubicle queens. But it really does have some terrific skyscrapers! Philip Johnson's Williams Tower -even though it's not downtown - is brilliant. IMHO it is 2nd only to Johnson's other work in Minneapolis (see below) as the best modernist skyscraper in America, post Mies van der Rohe.

San Francisco - While it may be identifiable primarily by the Transamerica Tower and the Golden Gate, it still has a great cluster of buildings in a beautiful setting. The Embarcadero adds to the drama. And San Francisco is a great city to boot. C'mon, I mean how can you not adore this town?? Beautiful setting. Distinctive skyline.

Minneapolis - Another great skyline. For a metro of just 3 million, and split between two cities (St. Paul being the other of course with its own skyline) Minneapolis has a brilliant skyline by some of the world's best architects (Johnson, Pei, Pelli, Nouvel, KPF, Gehry, SOM, Ellerbe, Birkerts, Yamasaki, etc.). The city lays arguable claim to Philip Johnson's masterpiece - the IDS Center. Overall quite distinctive and very dense.

Seattle - Beautiful setting and some very nice buildings. But frankly, also some dogs. Analogous to Toronto and the CN tower, I sometimes wonder if you eliminated the Space Needle, would anyone have any idea what city is being presented? Again though, it's in my Top Ten in North America. The Columbia Center is spectacular (and one of my favorites). Great density and a beautiful setting on Puget Sound.

Philadelphia - Wow. I have to say that this city had the balls to re-make itself into another East Coast icon. The new skyscrapers have completely changed the past perception of this city as a bit frumpy and out of date. Beautiful new buildings that (finally!!!) tower over William Penn have launched Philadelphia into a new era. I look forward to seeing adventurous buildings as wonderful as the PSFS building was in it's time.

Atlanta - Another city I have mixed feelings about. Yes, there are several towering structures but I have reservations about their effect on the street life of the city (Yes, this contradicts my assertion at the beginning of this post that I won't address "street life." But Atlanta has real issues with this from what I've seen. So I just have to mention it.) Again, this is just my humble opinion, but I have visited Atlanta several times and I just don't sense a cohesion downtown. And some of the major towers - a lot like Seattle - are major dogs. On the other hand, the towers have given an impressive new look to the city. While I tend to prefer clusters of towers and the accompanying density, Atlanta's towers are spread quite a bit apart. Hence,the aesthetic gives the city the impression of great size. And for that, it ranks among my personal Top Ten.

Vancouver - I love Vancouver. I've kind of thought of it as similar to Manhattan - at one third the height. A wonderful display of urban planning. Not particularly noteworthy for the architecture. But hey, what a spectacular setting and for the sheer number of high-rises, I can't think of another North American city other than New York or Chicago that can compare. And the fact that most of the high-rises are residential, gives further credence to the Vancouver Miracle...

Couldn't agree more with this, great list!

[iloveclassicrock7]

Originally Posted by blakeaustin

Dallas is boring I changed my mind, here's my new list of American skylines that i'm happy to call our own!
1| Miami
2| NYC
3| Austin

Two things. you posted twice, but the comment was different the second time... and how would you put Austin anywhere near Dallas ? or Miami above NYC and Chicago ?

[blakeaustin]

Because I like Miami's skyline better than NYC and I have always liked Austin's skyline even before the recent developments. Dallas has a lot of ugly buildings like the comerica building and the at&t building >.<

[CincyBearcats]

Originally Posted by waldenbg

Toronto!

Blue:
image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


Sunrise:
image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


So much construction!!
image hosted on flickr


The Ripley's Aquarium is being built at the base of the CN Tower:
image hosted on flickr


The million dollar view!!:
image hosted on flickr


Financial district:
image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


An cool rare view of "Old Toronto":

This is a world class skyline! I love visiting Toronto. The residential aspect alone in its highrises is amazing. The density in its skyline is becoming some of the most impressive density, dare I say it, in the world.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Avian001

Vancouver - I love Vancouver. I've kind of thought of it as similar to Manhattan - at one third the height. A wonderful display of urban planning. Not particularly noteworthy for the architecture. But hey, what a spectacular setting and for the sheer number of high-rises, I can't think of another North American city other than New York or Chicago that can compare. And the fact that most of the high-rises are residential, gives further credence to the Vancouver Miracle...

Toronto has waaay more highrises than Vancouver has... like more than double.

That Toronto sometimes looks like it has fewer is an optical illusion. Vancouver doesn't have any really tall buildings while Toronto has numerous 200 meter+ buildings which block the view of Vancouver-sized buildings, and make them less noticeable.

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thingsm...n/photostream/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronto/5100252942/

And at least half aren't even downtown.

[CincyBearcats]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronto/5100252942/

I remember a few years back when most everything around CN Tower was a bunch of nothing, now it is filling in quite nicely up to the lake.

[vitamin R]

Great shots of Toronto!!

[desertpunk]

Calgary

image hosted on flickr

The New Downtown by Cuppojoe, on Flickr

[vitamin R]

1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. Toronto
4. Seattle
5. San Fran
6. LA
7. Mexico City
8. Vancouver
9. Philly
10. Minneapolis

Honorable mention:
11. Houston
12. Dallas
13. Pittsburgh
14. Denver
15. Miami

[Xusein]

Not my top skyline but I drove through Baltimore less than two weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised at how dense it's skyline and cityscape was.

[Xusein]

PS, this is definitely a nice angle of Toronto that we don't usually see.

East of Yonge is not photographed enough.

[iloveclassicrock7]

1a - NYC
1b - Chicago
2. - Toronto
3. - Houston
4. - San Francisco
5. - Seattle

[desertpunk]

Boston

image hosted on flickr

Boston Skyline, June 2012 by jcfmbost, on Flickr

[desertpunk]

NYC

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/

[desertpunk]

image hosted on flickr

New York Aerial #08 by Tim Sklyarov, on Flickr

[HomrQT]

1. NYC - Not only has some of the finest pieces in my opinion, but is so large and centralized that there are virtually limitless ways to view the skyline.
2. Chicago - Great range in architecture, has quite a few prized pieces, my hometown and I won't leave it.
3. Seattle - Possibly the most pleasing to my eyes, great massing, space needle + mountains = bliss.
4. San Fran - Also very pleasing, the bridge certainly does it justice, the landscaping is incredible
5. Philly - Good massing, small but very effective with their more iconic pieces.
6. Vancouver - Great massing, and always appears so clean in photos!
7. Cincinnati - Great massing, flashy older style pieces that really light up at night, nice bridges.
8. Boston - Decent massing, and very uniform which actually works well for this city's skyline.
9. LA - Not very large considering city size, but an aerial view of LA's skyline makes it feel so imposing over the surrounding area. Along with the background mountains, LA has it's own type of awe effect going on with its skyline.
10. Toronto - A huge collection of buildings, needs a few more talls to fill in some gaps, but the CN tower helped put it on my list.

-

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

4. San Fran - Also very pleasing, the bridge certainly does it justice, the landscaping is incredible

Which bridge?