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Habitat 67, an “Icon of Permanent Modernity”

Habitat 67 is an unusual looking residential complex located on the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Canada. The project was initially a pavilion housing one of the world’s largest exhibitions, Expo 67 held in 1967 and considered to be the most successful World’s Fair of the 20th century. Habitat 67 was designed by Moshe Safdie and, as it was written on the official site, soon became the “place to be for some 148 singles, couples and families which have made it their main residence, but as well a real community with a quality of life envied throughout Canada”.
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The architectural concept behind the residential complex was the cube and here is why: “in its material  sense, the cube is a symbol of stability. As for its mystic meaning, the cube is symbol of wisdom, truth, moral perfection, at the origin itself of our civilization. ” The impressive project features gigantic and futuristic interiors, plazas, elevator pillars, pedestrian passes and suspended terraces. Quite daring and modern for a 60′s architecture plan, don’t you think?

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9 responses to “Habitat 67, an “Icon of Permanent Modernity”” - Add yours!

  1. araba garajı said:
    March 28, 2010

    amazing building.thanks for share

  2. Athea said:
    March 28, 2010

    yuck-stucco barf-it looks like one of those Bankok slums on the river to me.Wait ten years-this will be an eye sore!

  3. Andrew Heumann said:
    March 29, 2010

    Read Oren Safdie’s (Moshe’s son’s) essay for a more personal look at this unique project.
    http://www.dwell.com/articles/a-complex-story.html

  4. Ronique Gibson said:
    March 29, 2010

    Architecturally it’s interesting how a large amount of people can fit into the compartments, without feeling “on top” of each other! It’s almost like a mountain of legos!

  5. soheythere said:
    March 29, 2010

    This reminds me of my college dorm. It’s not as sophisticated but similar:

    http://www.buffalo.edu/buildings/building?id=ellicott&photo=photos/ellicott3-99063008.jpg

  6. max said:
    March 29, 2010

    I don’t like it. Looks like made of Lego. Living there I couldn’t sleep during windy night. I would be too scared, that it’ll all just break down.

  7. awgie said:
    April 3, 2010

    Athea, you say “Wait ten years-this will be an eye sore!” It’s been there already over 40 years, and still looks exquisite. Why should the next ten years be different?

    The article says “Quite daring and modern for a 60’s architecture plan”. As the son of an engineer and an architect, I think it would be rather daring for a 2010 architectural plan.

    I would love to live there, especially on the top level. It would be quite a long walk to get up to it, though. The only real drawback I can imagine would be the noise level on the river.

  8. ORLANDO AROUCK said:
    April 17, 2010

    much of this archtecture is familiar to brazilians when spotting rio de janeiro favelas. Would be a nice way on redistribute Rio´s residencial deficit.

  9. Piknik masası said:
    April 24, 2010

    WOW nice building

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