Building Boom Set to Vault Toronto Past Chicago in Skyscraper Rankings

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

wow here is the the mother-lode of chicago high res pics

https://www.flickr.com/photos/yochic...h/37836796031/

Wasn't that yochicago guy on SSP at one point? Zack or zeki or something. I forget the name.

He tends to have some wickedly good pics and is kinda like the NY Yimby of Chicago from what I gather.

[chris08876]

I wonder when Drake said "Started from the bottom, now we're here", if he was referring to Torontos skyline change?

Something to think about as the sativa kicks in.

"I done kept it real from the jump". Could be referring to how Toronto kept it real during the boom and still is keeping it real.

"Workin' all night, traffic on the way home". Could refer to the cranes operational all night, and workers pounding away the concrete and rebar.

Drake also said "N, we just want the credit where it's due" which can be postulated that Toronto wants credit, thus the whole point of this thread.

QED.

So what we have learned today is that Drakes song is really about the Toronto boom!

And American kids and adults, in clubs in Chicago with this song, are twerking to Toronto!

[Fresh]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Well..As an Australian you probably associate identical newly built condos catering for rich Asian foreign investors with cosmopolitanism and metropolitanism. How about you do your part for global warming and stop shipping coal to China by the way?

Great things are happening in american cities , on par with what’s going on in Toronto, but some of the Canadian contingent here would rather not be aware of or discuss these developments

For example

West loop in Chicago
Los Angeles downtown and west side investment and densification
DC and Seattle’s staggering growth and investment
Densification and infill in Dallas, Houston, etc
Gentrification in many cities
Record multifamily investments in urban areas

I encourage you to check this out. You will find that Chicago doesn’t look like the final scene in blues brothers anymore

And we don’t need Chinese money to accomplish it

Not sure when I disparaged or put down any US cities, nor defended Australia's resource extraction policies! - a lot of crazy projection here. I just found the idea of somebody accusing somebody else of 'Can-splaining' as very esoteric and amusing, but it's seemingly coming from a place of deep insecurity.

[Nite]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Well..As an Australian you probably associate identical newly built condos catering for rich Asian foreign investors with cosmopolitanism and metropolitanism. How about you do your part for global warming and stop shipping coal to China by the way?

Great things are happening in american cities , on par with what’s going on in Toronto, but some of the Canadian contingent here would rather not be aware of or discuss these developments

For example

West loop in Chicago
Los Angeles downtown and west side investment and densification
DC and Seattle’s staggering growth and investment
Densification and infill in Dallas, Houston, etc
Gentrification in many cities
Record multifamily investments in urban areas

I encourage you to check this out. You will find that Chicago doesn’t look like the final scene in blues brothers anymore

And we don’t need Chinese money to accomplish it

None of those American cities have been on par with what Toronto has been doing for the last 20 years.
Toronto has pretty much-ended sprawl into its hinterland and has channeled all growth into existing cities which has resulted
the entire Toronto region building mid and highrises at an ever-growing rate.
State governments are not interested in ending sprawl and only small sections of US cities are densifying, and few attempts are made anywhere else in the metropolitan region.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Great things are happening in american cities , on par with what’s going on in Toronto,

Apples to apples there's far more urban residential growth in Toronto than in most U.S. metros. Like not even close.

But yeah, the extent of that growth has been exaggerated in this thread, and the thread premise is untrue.

[iheartthed]

First tier iconic structures:

ESB
WTC
Statue of Liberty
Brooklyn Bridge
Sears Tower
Golden Gate Bridge
Hollywood sign
Mount Rushmore
The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Pentagon
Eiffel Tower
The Louvre
Notre Dame
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Pyramids of Giza
The Acropolis
The Roman Coliseum
The Great Wall
Corcovado

The CN Tower is not a first tier iconic structure. Iconic means that if you show a picture of the structure to a random adult then there is a high probability that the person will be able to identify it.

[samne]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

First tier iconic structures:

ESB
WTC
Statue of Liberty
Brooklyn Bridge
Sears Tower
Golden Gate Bridge
Hollywood sign
Mount Rushmore
The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Pentagon
Eiffel Tower
The Louvre
Notre Dame
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Pyramids of Giza
The Acropolis
The Roman Coliseum
The Great Wall
Corcovado

The CN Tower is not a first tier iconic structure. Iconic means that if you show a picture of the structure to a random adult then there is a high probability that the person will be able to identify it.

Obviously from an American perspective.

50% of the list is American....jokes.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

ESB
WTC
Statue of Liberty
Brooklyn Bridge
Sears Tower
Golden Gate Bridge
Hollywood sign
Mount Rushmore
The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Pentagon
Eiffel Tower
The Louvre
Notre Dame
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Pyramids of Giza
The Acropolis
The Roman Coliseum
The Great Wall
Corcovado

The Pentagon most definitely does not belong there. If not for 9/11 it wouldn't really be known much at all outside the US. Likewise, the WTC towers are only in there because...they don't exist anymore.

The Sears tower isn't really any more noteworthy or iconic than the CN Tower - you're probably only more familiar with it because it's in the US. Buckingham Palace as a structure isn't really that noteworthy or identifiable either (it'd probably be confused with its arguably more famous rival, the Palace of Versailles by the average person).

Otherwise I agree with your list, aside from major omissions like Angkor Wat, Chichen Itza, Hagia Sophia, Sydney Opera House, Taj Mahal, Macchu Pichu, Stonehenge, St. Peter's, St. Basil's, and the Great Mosque. As others have said, the CN Tower is probably in the second tier of iconic buildings.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

The Pentagon most definitely does not belong there. If not for 9/11 it wouldn't really be known much at all outside the US. Likewise, the WTC towers are only in there because...they don't exist anymore.

I think that is proof of the iconic status. The terrorists purposely targeted extremely high profile targets in the U.S.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by samne

Obviously from an American perspective.

50% of the list is American....jokes.

Well, yeah. The U.S. is the king of global mass media.

[dc_denizen]

Shhhh

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

First tier iconic structures:

ESB
WTC
Statue of Liberty
Brooklyn Bridge
Sears Tower
Golden Gate Bridge
Hollywood sign
Mount Rushmore
The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Pentagon
Eiffel Tower
The Louvre
Notre Dame
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Pyramids of Giza
The Acropolis
The Roman Coliseum
The Great Wall
Corcovado

The CN Tower is not a first tier iconic structure. Iconic means that if you show a picture of the structure to a random adult then there is a high probability that the person will be able to identify it.

This gets back to the old debate between famous and iconic. Famous and iconic aren't interchangeable terms. Anything or anyone becomes famous if sufficiently publicized regardless of if that publicity is just out of happenstance or if there are actual characteristics that warrant it.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think that is proof of the iconic status. The terrorists purposely targeted extremely high profile targets in the U.S.

It is the center of US military power, not just in a symbolic sense, but in being a headquarters housing numerous officials. In other words, a prime military target for anyone wishing to attack the country regardless of whether or not anyone know what it looked like.

Just imagine if someone that hate a particular company and want to attack it. The company headquarters would naturally be a potential target even if they didn't know where it was or what it looked like and had to research for hours t even find out. So obviously if they did manage to attack it that wouldn't be evidence that said headquarters was "an icon."

[Nouvellecosse]

I would also argue that the ESB and Chrysler buildings were both much more iconic than the WTC buildings. But the WTC buildings were bigger, contained more people, seen as more a command center for US capitalism, and therefore more of a military target.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

The Pentagon most definitely does not belong there. If not for 9/11 it wouldn't really be known much at all outside the US. Likewise, the WTC towers are only in there because...they don't exist anymore.

The Sears tower isn't really any more noteworthy or iconic than the CN Tower - you're probably only more familiar with it because it's in the US. Buckingham Palace as a structure isn't really that noteworthy or identifiable either (it'd probably be confused with its arguably more famous rival, the Palace of Versailles by the average person).

Otherwise I agree with your list, aside from major omissions like Angkor Wat, Chichen Itza, Hagia Sophia, Sydney Opera House, Taj Mahal, Macchu Pichu, Stonehenge, St. Peter's, St. Basil's, and the Great Mosque. As others have said, the CN Tower is probably in the second tier of iconic buildings.

I’d take off Mount Rushmore as well.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I would also argue that the ESB and Chrysler buildings were both much more iconic than the WTC buildings. But the WTC buildings were bigger, contained more people, seen as more a command center for US capitalism, and therefore more of a military target.

The WTC was targeted repeatedly by foreign terrorists. I'll give you the points about the Pentagon, but the WTC was absolutely iconic. They were maybe the most iconic structures in North America even pre-9/11. There was not much strategic value in attacking them, but the symbolic value (i.e. their "iconic" status) is exactly why they were targeted.

[samne]

Nothing iconic about Sears Tower. I dont think anyone outside of ChicagoLand can pick it out of a crowd.

Same thing for WTC.

[Razor]

King Kong originally made the WTC known..Just like the ape made the Empire State building famous before that..
I agree that the CN tower belongs on a second tier if there was one. Ditto for the Sydney Opera House. The Golden Gate Bridge can be debated I suppose. That list above is just ridiculous.

[JManc]

If it's sold as a refrigerator magnet or shot glasses, it's iconic.

[bobdreamz]

Originally Posted by JManc

If it's sold as a refrigerator magnet or shot glasses, it's iconic.

Thanks for the chuckle of the day !