Habitat 67 – also known as just habitat — is a model community and housing complex located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was designed by the Israeli-Canadian architecture Moshe Safdie. Habitat 67 was originally conceived by the Safdie for his master’s degree from McGill University. Later it was structured as Canadian Pavilion for the World Exposition of 1967. It was initially proposed as an exploratory answer for quality lodging in highly populated urban areas.
Safdie investigated the conceivable outcomes of pre-assembled secluded units to decrease lodging costs and take into consideration another housing typology that could incorporate the characteristics of a suburban home into an urban high-rise. Thinking about the task’s criticalness in “A glance back at habitat ’67” Safdie expressed that “Habitat 67 contains is two ideas in one. One is about prefabrication, and the other is about rethinking apartment-building design in the new paradigm.”
Safdie’s plan for Habitat 67 started as a proposed venture for his architecture program at McGill University. It was highly perceived at the institution, however, Safdie refers to its inability to win the Pilkington Prize, an honor for the best postulation at Canadian schools of architecture, as early proof of its dubious nature. After leaving to work with Louis Kahn in Philadelphia, Safdie was drawn closer by Sandy van Ginkel, his previous theory consultant, to build up the groundbreaking strategy for Expo 67, World’s Fair that was set to happen in Montreal during 1967. Safdie chose to propose his prokect as one of the structures and started developing his plan. The plans were affirmed in Ottawa by Minister of Finance Mitchell Sharp who was a strong supporter of Canadian Pavilion during the exhibition and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.
Safdie was given the gift of the Expo 67 Director of Installations, Edward Churchill, to leave the arranging board to chip away at the building venture as an autonomous architect. Safdie was granted the undertaking regardless of his relative youth and inability, an open door he later depicted as “a fantasy, an astonishing pixie tale.” The improvement was financed by the central government, yet it is presently possessed by its inhabitants, who framed a constrained association that bought the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985. Safdie still owns a penthouse loft in the building. Habitat’s unique feature is that it is a Three-Dimensional Modular Building System.
