« THE WAY WE DO ART NOW AND OTHER SACRED TALES + + | Main | NUMO »

HABITAT '67

04_habitat_130762.jpg

45_habitat_156022.jpg

Habitat '67 is a striking housing complex located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the Quai Marc-Drouin on the Saint Lawrence River. It was designed by architect Moshe Safdie based on his master's thesis at McGill University. It was designed to integrate the variety and diversity of scattered private homes with the economics and density of a modern apartment building. Modular, interlocking concrete forms define the space. The complex was built as part of Expo '67. The project was designed to create affordable housing with close but private quarters, each equipped with a garden. The complex was originally meant to be vastly larger. Ironically, the building's units are now quite expensive rather than "affordable" due to its architectural cachet. It is now a privately owned condominium complex since it was purchased by its tenants in 1985.

Safdie hoped that his vision of interlocking modules would become widespread. However Safdie's attempts to build similar structures elsewhere in the world all failed to be funded. Habitat '67 has a website.

About

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on February 19, 2007 9:13 PM.

The previous post in this blog was THE WAY WE DO ART NOW AND OTHER SACRED TALES + +.

The next post in this blog is NUMO .

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

Powered by
Movable Type 3.31