Moshe Safdie says he 'paid a price' for antagonizing post-modernism

2022-10-31T12:22:00-04:00

“In the 70s and 80s, my ideas were ignored. I was antagonistic to postmodernism [...] and I paid a price.”

The 84-year-old Habitat 67 mastermind sat down with Rowan Moore to discuss his career and new memoir If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture. Among other topics, he said he had “no idea” that his 2011 Marina Bay Sands design would become “an instant icon” and that the political situation in his native Israel brings him “great frustration” even though he believes supporters of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanction) movement are making a “stupid mistake.”

Safdie then spoke to the chilling reception that met his post-Habitat endeavors in Puerto Rico and New York, which failed to “replicate like mushrooms” as the then 30-something architect had expected. An exhibition of Safdie’s unrealized work is conveniently on display at the Boston Architectural College’s McCormick Gallery from now through January 2nd.

Relate on Archinect: ‘More Than 50 Percent Of My Work Is Unbuilt’ says Moshe Safdie in new Time-Space-Existence video

“As an architect committed to building and impacting the e...

The landmark buildings that never were

2012-07-24T20:56:00-04:00

Economic and social factors across the ages meant that some of the grandest designs of renowned architects such as Lutyens and Inigo Jones were never completed. Here are five ambitious building projects that never made it off the drawing-board.

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Moshe Safdie says he 'paid a price' for antagonizing post-modernism

The landmark buildings that never were