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Home » Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie
Snapshot

Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie

Montreal

Habitat 67

Photo © Studio Graetz

Habitat 67

Photography courtesy Safdie Architects

Habitat 67

Photography © Studio Graetz

Habitat 67

Photography © Timothy Hursley

Habitat 67

Photography © Timothy Hursley

Habitat 67

Photography © Timothy Hursley

Habitat 67

Photo courtesy Safdie Architects

Habitat 67
Habitat 67
Habitat 67
Habitat 67
Habitat 67
Habitat 67
Habitat 67
April 1, 2017
Alex Klimoski
KEYWORDS Montreal
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Architects & Firms

Safdie Architects

 

Moshe Safdie was an unknown young architect when he led seasoned modernists Philip Johnson, I.M. Pei, and Paul Rudolph on a tour of a half-constructed Habitat 67—the utopian modular-housing system he developed for the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal. An adaptation of his thesis project at McGill University, the 158-unit complex, composed of prefinished concrete cubes in staggered formation, married urban density with the spaciousness and individuality of suburban houses. “After that, Rudolph was transformed,” Safdie told RECORD recently. “We all recognized that this was a radical idea.” Still, today, Habitat remains one of the most momentous experiments in prefab housing and urban planning. And although it never flourished as a viable prototype (“It turns out that transporting many heavy boxes is not feasible for high-rise buildings—not then, and not today,” says the 78-year-old architect), 50 years later, many of the original tenants still reside there—including Safdie himself, when he is in Montreal (his firm is based in Boston). The development’s heritage status, however, has posed obstacles for the current renovation of his personal apartment. “I’m under the burden of the Ministry of Culture,” he laments, “which is kind of amusing, because they are telling me what to do!”

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Alex is the associate editor at Architectural Record. Prior to joining the magazine, she worked in marketing and communications for New York–based architecture firms. Her writing has appeared in the Architect’s Newspaper and CityLab. Alex holds a master’s degree in design criticism from the School of Visual Arts and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.

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