A Week in Oil-Rich CALGARY, the Heart of the New West :: Part 1 of 3 :: 76 photos

[Kilgore Trout]

I was in Calgary two weeks ago to visit my family for a week. February is hardly the best time to wander around and time photos but, well, that's what I got. Now please enjoy these Oil-Rich Photos from Canada's Fastest Growing City, etc.

 

[Ummagumma66]

nice phots!

 

[ganjavih]

Excellent photos and a fairly flattering portrayal of Calgary. Looks like a liveable city. Kinda reminds me of Ottawa in terms of urbanity.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I've been to Ottawa and they're very similar cities in terms of scale and urbanity. Obviously Calgary is a lot more modern but it isn't any more suburban.

 

[tayser]

nice work Trouter, the last one's a corker.

 

[afransen]

Quite a bit of smog, for February.

 

[Ithaqua]

What is this biohazard thing?

 

[Ummagumma66]

^^thats a needle drop, and it wouldent be smog, I'd guess he was out and about during the cold snap, it only got to about -20 daytime high

 

[junctionist]

These are some nice contemporary townhouses:

 

[Ithaqua]

^^thats a needle drop.

These are some nice contemporary townhouses:

they are nice, where are they any idea what they cost?

 

[Ummagumma66]

I think the Townhouses are in the Connaught District, thats a nice area, its just north of Mount Royal and Old Mount Royal, which is one of the nicest areas in the City, so I'd guess those townhouses are very expensive.

 

[EnviroTO]

The way Calgarians talk I expected to see cranes out the wazoo much like the Dubai photos. For all the talk of the "crane" being their provincial bird I think there are more cranes in Toronto, and perhaps even in Mississauga.

 

[Ummagumma66]

while Calgary is no Dubai, I believe we just erected our 60th crane on the weekend, and about 31 of those are in the downtown core, Calgary has 2 billion dollar 200m+ projects on the go and a number of 150m projects, the city is in the biggest boom in 30 years, the city will be totally different in about 5 years, it would be interesting to see the crane count in other Canadian cities.

 

[Edward Skira]

Can't say for Toronto in total but I can see at least 25 cranes from my roof deck at Church and Front.

 

[simply Dan]

I don't think Calgary even comes close to the amount of new construction happening in the Greater Toronto Area - it has less to do with regional prosperity than sheer size. There is no other urban area in the country as large or populous as the GTA.

Although the current building boom in Calgary is impressive, the quality of design leaves much to be desired. The Bow will be an incredible building, but many of the other new projects range from yawn to absolutely terrible, in my opinion. Calgary can learn a thing or two from Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal in terms of design aesthetic.