Overlooking the Saint Lawrence River toward downtown Montreal, Moshe Safdie's personal duplex unit of his iconic Habitat 67 was recently renovated, in light of the monument's 50th anniversary. Perhaps what's most exciting is that the unit was donated to the public realm and is now open for scholarly research and tours.
Perched atop the residential complex on the 10th floor, the unit originally belonged to the Commissioner of Expo ’67. The two-year renovation began with researching the building's original 1967 conditions, Safdie Architects says. Addressing decades of water damage began with stripping the exterior concrete walls to allow proper repair, insulation, and waterproofing of the envelope.
The renovation project involved a thorough refurbishing of the interior to its original condition, including the wood parquet flooring, sliding patio doors, new energy-efficient windows, kitchen cabinets and appliances (new appliances were integrated behind the cabinets), and the clear polycarbonate railings on the terraces. A local shipwright meticulously restored the molded fiberglass bathrooms. And of course, the building received technical upgrades to meet present-day sustainability standards.
Currently, Safdie Architects is working on a comprehensive restoration of the exterior building envelope.
More images in the gallery below.
Collaborators
Safdie Architects: Sean Scensor, Matt Longo, & Reihaneh Ramezany
Local architect: Ghislain Bélanger
Contractor: Fairmont Construction
It's under-reported that architectural failure is mostly a failure of maintenance and care. Luckily this building seems to be getting proper care and love
All 8 Comments
Fascinating.
Beautiful!
I'd love to know if he negotiated for this unit as part of his fee, or bought it later.
"the unit originally belonged to the Commissioner of Expo ’67"
Masterful.
And to think of all the posers they've given the Pritzker to ...
This is masterful indeed, but nothing he did since ever came close to Habitat, no offence but one could almost argue he's a 'one hit wonder'.
I'm sure he doesn't care bit about the pritzker, as 99,99% of the world doesn't either.
Rando, I pass by 2 of Safdie's buildings daily. He's done plenty and has worked tirelessly to diversify himself away from the habitat model. His moustache alone should win him the Pritsker.
Safdie's buildings are what most architecture isn't: thoughtful and responsible. Kudos to him for a career built on values nobody really cares about.
+ Miles
With one hit wonder I didn't mean one trick pony. I know he did a lot of different projects, they just never reached that same level as Habitat. Some people just have the bad luck of creating their best work first. Every time I look at Marina Bay with it's ridiculous infinity pool or Sky Habitat I know exactly why he hasn't won a Pritzker and probably never should.
You might be the only one who thinks Mr. Safdie is a one-hit-wonder.
Maybe, or Habitat is just too good that everything afterwards can't compete. He'll always be remembered for Habitat, not for anything else he did, even when those might be very decent buildings. It's like he recorded his Revolver as his debut album.
You're likely right on that one, from an international p.o.v. The National Arts Gallery 3 blocks from my office is a canadian treasure tho. 8-)
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I was escorted out of habitat by private security 10-12 years ago. I guess they don't like stupid punk grad school kids with 35mm film cameras and tripods lurking in their hood.
Same, almost.
I was exploring the site with a German girl I'd picked up in Chicago on our way to Boston ( but that's another story) when an older woman appeared on a balcony and called to us. They had a very polite-sounding conversation in French, then the woman went inside. Girl turned to me and said "She says if we don't leave she's calling the Police."
I've always loved the visuals of the original project. Like a Greek island village.
It's under-reported that architectural failure is mostly a failure of maintenance and care. Luckily this building seems to be getting proper care and love
Chemex I tweeted essentially this same statement yesterday. Conversation was about this bonkers and beautiful housing estate in France by Jean Renaudie:
Twitter responders who had lived there all basically said "It's really cool, but not well-maintained".
Wow. Maintenance should be a higher priority for the architecture profession -- it makes us look bad. Especially considering bonkers architecture requires more customized care
“Neoliberalism has stripped out the social ideology from our country and led to a ruinous economy with ruinous housing,” he says fiercely. “I’m an old, old man, so my answer is probably not the right one, but I think
we need a new national agency to govern standards and fund the
construction of housing for properly mixed communities – crucially with maintenance costs financed for the whole life of the building.”
- Neave Brown
https://www.theguardian.com/ar...
That Alexander Road estate is so f-ing good, too. I'd live there in a second.
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