A visiting Parisian recently made me laugh. Stretched on the grass next to the esplanade in the
Old Port,
she suddenly noticed
Habitat 67's retro-futuristic assemblage across the Lachine Canal.
"
Et ça" - she said peering confusedly at the distant building - "
Ce sont des logements sociaux?" ("And that... that's a housing project?"). I laughed because although nothing could be further from the truth (the internationally acclaimed building houses well-to-do Montrealers - one could even say, the city's elite) many people somehow make a similar mistake. They are put off by the building's stern look, uninviting color and absurd shape, and so they wrongly assume something of the sort can only be used to house the underclass. I am here to clear up the confusion and defend the merits of Habitat 67...
Read the rest of: "The Habitat"»
