Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie is an Israeli/Canadian/American architect and urban designer. Born in Haifa, Safdie moved to Montreal with his family as a teenager, studied architecture at McGill University and received his master degree there. In the early 1960's, based on his master's thesis, the city commissioned him to build Habitat 67 for the Montreal World Expo 67 - a project that would earn him worldwide recognition.

Apart from Habitat 67, Moshe Safdie is the architect of the new (main) pavilion of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Ottawa City Hall, Toronto Ballet Opera House, Museum of Contemporary Art in Stuttgart, Museum of Industrial Design, Architecture and Contemporary Art in Munich and other landmark buildings around the world.

Related Places

• Habitat 67 - 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy
  Commissioned by the city for World Expo 67, this groundbreaking housing complex by then very young architect Moshe Safdie elicits contractictory emotions from Montreal visitors and residents alike. Some praise its unique concept, valuing privacy, access to the city center, versatile apartment shapes providing multiple exposures and a patch of green space ("everybody gets a rooftop garden!"), street-like configuration of its hallways and amazing views afforded by its location. Others criticise the stern fortress-like look and point out that the project essentially failed as a stand-alone housing community (because of the unexpectedly high cost of engineering, the complex was only partially built). One thing is certain, nobody is indifferent.


• Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - 1380 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest
  Founded in 1860, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal) shows the work of Canadian and international artists. It is Montreal's largest museum.

News and Updates

Flying high on the success of Vélib, a bike-rental program that turned one year old in July, Paris is thinking about launching another effort, dubbed Autolib. According to a report by the Associated Press, this program will launch by early 2010 with a fleet of 4,000 electric cars (half of them reserved for areas outside the Périphérique) and will allow anybody to quickly rent a car from one of 700 planned stations and drop them off at any other...

Read the rest of: "You Liked Vélib? Then You'll Love Autolib!"»

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"»