I'm all about having a space for my BBQ, and my wife loves her plants and growing them year round. So for us the choice was clear that we needed a balcony and preferably one that has a south or southwest exposure. So it did play a factor in our choice of unit in our new building in Calgary. I am curious as to how windy it may get but we are only on the 26th floor, which is small fry compared to some of the other posters here!
View of the unfinished balcony in question(from about 5 months ago but the best shot of the space I had), it faces west:
And one looking south from our last trip up about 2 months back, looking southwest:
