HABITAT 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at

Cité du Havre Cité du Havre is a neighbourhood in the borough of Ville-Marie of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on a narrow man-made peninsula, the Mackay Pier (''Jetée Mackay''), which was largely built to protect the Old Port of Montreal ...

, on the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, Canada, designed by

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

architect

Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible des ...

. It originated in his master's thesis at the

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...

and then an amended version was built for

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

, a

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

held from April to October 1967. Its address is 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy, next to the Marc-Drouin

Quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...

. Habitat 67 is considered an architectural

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

and a recognized building in Montreal.Habitat 67
- Quebec Cultural Heritage Directory,

Ministry of Culture and Communications (Quebec) The Ministry of Culture and Communications (french: Ministère de la Culture et des Communications ) is responsible for promoting and protecting the culture in the Canadian province of Quebec. The current Minister is Nathalie Roy.

History

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. After leaving to work with

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. W ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, Safdie was approached by

Sandy van Ginkel Harmen Peter Daniel (Daniel, later Sandy) van Ginkel, (February 10, 1920 – July 5, 2009) was a Dutch and Canadian architect and urban planner. He was a leading force in the planning efforts surrounding Expo 67. Van Ginkel studied architec ...

, 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 In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

and began developing his plan. After the plans were approved in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

Mitchell Sharp Mitchell William Sharp (May 11, 1911 – March 19, 2004) was a Canadian politician and a Companion of the Order of Canada, most noted for his service as a Liberal Cabinet minister. He did, however, serve in both private and public sectors du ...

, 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. The construction was done by Anglin-Norcross Ltd. of Montréal. 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." The development (about CA$22.4 million) 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 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (french: Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement) (SCHL) is Canada's national housing agency, and state-owned mortgage insurer. It was originally established after World War II, to help re ...

in 1985. Safdie now owns

Blake Gopnik Blake Gopnik (born 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American art critic who has lived in New York City since 2011. He previously spent a decade as chief art critic of '' The Washington Post'', prior to which he was an arts editor and cr ...

s childhood penthouse apartment (units 1011 and 1012) as his Montreal pied-a-terre. Habitat 67 (Montreal)

Concept and design

Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical,

prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term ...

concrete forms (11.7 metres x 5.3 metres x 3 metres; 38'4" x 17'4" x 9'10" ) arranged in various combinations, divided into three pyramids, 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. The complex originally contained 158 apartments, 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, built on the roof of the level below, which can range from approximately in size. The apartments each had a molded plastic bathroom and a modular kitchen. The development was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

s—namely gardens, fresh air, privacy, and multilevelled environments—with the economics and density of a modern urban

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

. It was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around the world. 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. In addition, the existing structure was originally meant to only be the first phase of a much larger complex, but the high per-unit cost of approximately C$140,000 ( C$22,120,000 for all 158) prevented that possibility. The structural engineer for the project was August Eduard Komendant, an Estonian-American structural engineer and a pioneer in the field of prestressed concrete. Habitat 67, southwest view

The theme of Expo 67 was "Man and his World", taken from

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

's memoir ''

Terre des hommes Terre des hommes, also Terre des Hommes (''Land of People'' or ''Land of Men''), is an international children's rights charitable humanitarian umbrella organization under the aegis of the International Federation of Terre des Hommes (TDHIF), wit ...

'' (literally, 'world of man', though it was published under the title ''Wind, Sand and Stars''). 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 Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocki ...

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". "There’s no transit access (residents have a private shuttle that takes them downtown) and no easy way to get there by foot."

Legacy

In 2017,

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operat ...

issued a commemorative stamp for the 50th anniversary of Expo 67 featuring the structure. In 2017, from June 1 through August 13, ''Habitat ’67 vers l’avenir / The Shape of Things to Come'', an exhibition at Centre de Design,

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Qué ...

, presented "archival images and objects from the project’s origins with conceptual drawings, and models, bringing them together with plans for unbuilt iterations". As a symbol 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" and "architectural wonder". This experiment was and is regarded as both a success and failure—it "redefined urban living" and has since become "a very successful co-op", but at the same time ultimately failed to revolutionize affordable housing or launch a wave of prefabricated, modular development as Safdie had envisioned. Despite its problems, however, Habitat's fame and success "made afdie'sreputation" and helped launch his career; Safdie has now designed over 75 buildings and master plans around the world. 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. However, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' quoted ''

The Walrus ''The Walrus'' is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national s ...

'' assessment of it as a "failed dream".

In popular culture

Habitat 67 appears in the background matte painting of the Scalosian City, from the remastered episode "''Wink of an Eye''" from ''

Star Trek: The Original Series ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' (''TOS'') to distinguis ...

.'' It appears on the album cover of the 2003 album '' Velocity : Design : Comfort'' by

Sweet Trip Sweet Trip was an American electronic/ experimental rock act formed in 1993 in the Bay Area of California, United States, by musicians Valerie Cooper and Roberto Burgos. They are known for their dreamy soundscapes and dense production technique ...

and on the cover of 2012's '' The North (Stars album)''. It also appears on the album cover of Landslide's ''Drum & Bossa / Buddah'', his debut single from 1999 that was released on Hospital Records. The building's covered walkways and exterior appear in several scenes in 1977's '' The Disappearance'', starring Donald Sutherland, where the main character shares an apartment in the building with his wife.

Panorama

References

External links

Habitat 67
Official website
Moshe Safdie and Associates
Official website
Habitat 67
- Quebec Cultural Heritage Directory,

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

Historica Canada Historica Canada is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the country's history and citizenship. All of its programs are offered bilingually and reach more than 28 million Canadians annually. A registered national charitabl ...

Habitat 67: 1967 and 2015-02-14

Habitat 67, Montreal
-

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets—creativ ...

Habitat 67
- Great Buildings .com
40+ Images of Habitat 67
-

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

{{Montreal landmarks Brutalist architecture in Canada Buildings and structures in Montreal Expo 67 Heritage buildings of Quebec Moshe Safdie buildings Residential buildings completed in 1967 Residential condominiums in Canada Ville-Marie, Montreal Visionary environments World's fair architecture in Montreal