Habitat 67

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox building Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by Israeli-Canadian-American architect Moshe Safdie. It originated in his master's thesis at the School of Architecture at McGill University and then an amended version was built for Expo 67, a World's Fair held from April to October 1967. Its address is 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy, next to the Marc-Drouin Quay. Habitat 67 is considered an architectural landmark and a recognized building in Montreal.<ref name="patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc">Habitat 67 - Quebec Cultural Heritage Directory, Ministry of Culture and Communications (Quebec)</ref><ref name="thestar1997">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="csm">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

File:Habitat 67 Montreal Close-up cropped.jpg
Inside the complex: a semi-covered walkway connecting two sections of units

Safdie's design for Habitat 67 began as a thesis project for his architecture program at McGill University. It was "highly recognized" at the institution, though Safdie cites its failure to win the Pilkington Prize, an award for the best thesis at Canadian schools of architecture, as early evidence of its controversial nature.<ref name="qq">Template:Cite journal</ref> After leaving to work with Louis Kahn in Philadelphia, Safdie was approached by Sandy van Ginkel, his former thesis advisor, to develop the master plan for Expo 67, the world's fair that was set to take place in Montreal during 1967. Safdie decided to propose his thesis as one of the pavilions and began developing his plan.<ref name="qq"/> After the plans were approved in Ottawa by Mitchell Sharp, the federal cabinet minister responsible for the exhibition, and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Safdie was given the blessing of the Expo 67 Director of Installations, Edward Churchill, to leave the planning committee in order to work on the building project as an independent architect.<ref name="qq"/> The construction was done by Anglin-Norcross Ltd. of Montreal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Safdie was awarded the project in spite of his relative youth and inexperience, an opportunity he later described as "a fairy tale, an amazing fairy tale."<ref name="qq"/>

The original plans called for 1,200 homes at a cost of $45 million.<ref name="archinect">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Safdie could only secure funding for a much reduced construction. This smaller development (about CA$22.4 million)<ref name="cbc.ca-safdie-habitat-asia">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="cppci-PoM">Template:Cite web</ref> was financed by the federal government, but is now owned by its tenants, who formed a limited partnership that purchased the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985.

File:Habitat 67 (Montreal).jpg
Habitat 67's interlocking forms, connected walkways and landscaped terraces were key in achieving Safdie's goal of a private and natural environment within the limits of a dense urban space.

Concept and design

Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical,<ref name="cppci-PoM"/> prefabricated concrete forms (Template:Cvt)<ref name="cppci-PoM"/> arranged in various combinations, divided into three pyramids,<ref name="gettyimages-aerial-habitat-67">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="cppci-PoM"/> reaching up to 12 residential storeys, with a parking level, and a building services level. Together these units created 146 residences of varying sizes and configurations, each formed from one to eight linked concrete units.<ref name="officialsite">Template:Cite web</ref> The complex originally contained 158 apartments,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> reduced from the original vision of 1,200,<ref name="archinect"/> but several apartments have since been joined to create larger units, reducing the total number. Each unit is connected to at least one private landscaped garden terrace,<ref name="cppci-PoM"/> built on the roof of the level below,<ref name="officialsite"/><ref name="cppci-PoM"/> which can range from approximately Template:Convert in size.<ref name="officialsite"/><ref name="hgtv.ca-condo-sale-habitat-67">Template:Cite web</ref> The apartments each had a moulded plastic bathroom and a modular kitchen.<ref name="cppci-PoM"/>

The development was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban homes—namely gardens, fresh air, privacy, and multilevelled environments—with the economics and density of a modern urban apartment building.<ref name="thestar1997"/> It was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around the world.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Safdie's goal for the project to be affordable housing largely failed: demand for the building's units has made them more expensive than originally envisioned.<ref name="thestar1997"/> In addition, the existing structure was originally meant to be only the first phase of a much larger complex, but the high per-unit cost of approximately $140,000 ($22,120,000 for all 158) prevented that possibility.<ref name="globe1980">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Clarify

The structural engineer for the project was August Eduard Komendant, an Estonian-American structural engineer and a pioneer in the field of prestressed concrete.<ref name="10.7202/1082359ar">Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Habitat 67, southwest view.jpg
Habitat 67, southwest view

The theme of Expo 67 was "Man and His World", taken from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's memoir Template:Lang (literally, 'world of man', though it was published under the title Wind, Sand and Stars).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Housing was also one of the main themes of Expo 67. Habitat 67 then became a thematic pavilion visited by thousands of visitors who came from around the world, and during the expo also served as the temporary residence of the many dignitaries visiting Montreal.

In March 2012, Habitat 67 won an online Lego Architecture poll and is a candidate to be added to the list of famous buildings that inspire a special replica Lego set. Lego bricks were actually used in the initial planning for Habitat; according to Safdie's firm, "initial models of the project were built using Lego bricks and subsequent iterations were also built with Lego bricks".<ref name="The Toronto Star">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Access

Residents have private shuttle access to downtown Montreal, but access by foot is difficult.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Guided tours are offered to the public.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2023, the extension of the 777 Casino bus route of the Template:Lang began serving Habitat 67, providing the complex with public transport access for the first time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

In 2017, Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp for the 50th anniversary of Expo 67 featuring the structure.<ref name="Mafi2017">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2017, from June 1 through August 13, Template:Lang / The Shape of Things to Come,<ref name="westmount-mag-habitat-67">Template:Cite news</ref> an exhibition at Centre de Design, Template:Lang, presented "archival images and objects from the project's origins with conceptual drawings, and models, bringing them together with plans for unbuilt iterations".<ref name="westmount-mag-habitat-67"/>

As a symbol<ref name="charlierose1997">Template:Cite interview</ref> of Expo 67, which was attended by over 50 million people during the six months it was open, Habitat 67 gained worldwide acclaim as a "fantastic experiment"<ref name="thewalrus">Template:Cite web</ref> and "architectural wonder".<ref name="csm"/> This experiment was and is regarded as both a success and failure—it "redefined urban living"<ref name="charlierose2011">Template:Cite interview</ref> and has since become "a very successful co-op",<ref name="thestar1997"/> but at the same time ultimately failed to revolutionize affordable housing or launch a wave of prefabricated, modular development as Safdie had envisioned.<ref name="thestar1997"/> Despite its problems, however, Habitat's fame and success "made [Safdie's] reputation"<ref name="charlierose1997"/> and helped launch his career; Safdie has now designed over 75 buildings and master plans around the world.<ref name="charlierose2011"/> Decades after Habitat, much of Safdie's work still holds to the concepts that were so fundamental to its design, especially the themes of reimagining high-density housing and improving social integration through architecture that have become "synonymous" with his work.<ref name="designbuild">Template:Cite web</ref> However, The Guardian quoted<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Walrus assessment of it as a "failed dream".<ref name="thewalrus"/>

In 2023, Safdie Architects, in collaboration with Epic Games, modeled the entirety of the original (much larger) vision in Unreal Engine.<ref name="archinect"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The music video for Leonard Cohen's song "In My Secret Life" was filmed at Habitat 67, as were scenes of the 1977 film The Disappearance.

It appears on the covers of the 2003 album Velocity : Design : Comfort by American electronic/experimental rock act Sweet Trip and the 2012 album The North by Canadian indie pop band Stars. It also appears on the album cover of Landslide's Drum & Bossa / Buddah, his debut single from 1999 that was released on Hospital Records.

Panorama

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See also

References

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Further reading

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Template:Montreal landmarks

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