View Full Version : [Canada] Habitat '67 - Montreal
Whist studying at McGill University in Montreal, i was on a site visit when i happened to walk past habitat 67 accidently.
It was designed by Moshe Safdie in 67 as a uni project i beleive.
Address: 2600, avenue Pierre-Dupuy Montréal H3C 3R6
View From the other side of the river, quite a large housing project considering when it was built.
View from the sidewalk...
view from inside habitat, looking out.
detail of a gap between the cubes.
the is quite a large void underneath habitat, a concrete park
as you can see, the rectangular living units, step up similar to a pryamid.
View cones to the city of montreal made between concrete.
its quite a unique feeling when your inside the space, you feel like your inside a building, yet its open air with many openings.
as you can see, the scale fo this project is huge.
once again, the building steping as it raises
view from one a terrace of one the the higher apartments.
view of the city of montreal from an apartment terrace
just in case you were wondering, it was -40 degrees that day.
i remember it being quite hard to get to... i had to catch a bus for about an hour, it was really weird - had to walk for quite a while too.
i liked the project, it was very interesting to see such large residential apartment complex in such unique fashion. the view from many of the apartments - as you can see - is stunning, with panoramic views of the entire city and mount royal in which montreal is built on.
i was unable to get inside the apartments, so im not sure what the interiors are like.
thanks for sharing this with us dom :not worth
interesting YOU like this building :wondering.
i guess usually when i see published images of this building, it would either be similar to your last shot or an overall shot from afar. this is the first time i have seen the spaces, especially how it looks almost 40 years on. i have to say i am quite disappointed from what i see in terms of the spaces as a living community.
thanks for sharing this with us dom :not worth
interesting YOU like this building :wondering.
i guess usually when i see published images of this building, it would either be similar to your last shot or an overall shot from afar. this is the first time i have seen the spaces, especially how it looks almost 40 years on. i have to say i am quite disappointed from what i see in terms of the spaces as a living community.
Agree, but I guess you can't expect much outdoor life going on at -40°... :D
from my understanding of the project kev, it was an expiremental project - that evaluated in being built. if think you think about it from that perspective you able to respect the project for what it was designed for. i agree, it looks very run down and bleak, however - at the same time, all of montreal looks like that during the winter - cold, baren, dirty - im sure it would be a complete different story during the summer
sigue2000
02-06-2006, 08:48
Thank you domc.:clap: I agree with Kevin's statements. I've only ever seen this project in publications and never this 'close'. I have to say that the overall impression is that the outdoor spaces are designed like many others at the time. I don't know why architects at the time believed that empty spaces would per se be adopted by the public. They look barren, left over and 'undesigned' in this project. I think that taking into acount that this project is 40 years old, the concrete has weathered allright. I've seen a lot worse from that period.
The
All this said, to me it is still an extremely inspiring work by it's complexity. The outer freezing surface (-40!!!! degrees) compared to interior heated volume scares the sh... outa me though.:eek:
Architects Site (http://www.msafdie.com/)
PPB2 thread (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92&highlight=moshe+safdie)
marvins_dad
09-08-2006, 19:51
Yes! Thanks for the great photos...
I happened upon it as well a few years ago on the way to the Formula One Race near the Casino. It was raining and I couldn't believe that I just happened to pass it. Took a few pics out of the window, just to prove that I saw what I thought I saw, but seeing your pics reminds me of how much I always liked that project!
Yes, the first thing that i noticed, as some of you pointed out is the barrenness of the space. However, I think the temperature more than accounts for that. I'd assume there's a good number of people there in warmer temperatures, at least some archi visitors.
The scale is rather large also. From the pictures i've seen of it previously, probably from the other bank of the river(guessing), seems much smaller.
I am fascinated by the spatial capabilities of the architect. That must have been a lot of sections and plans he had to draw :clap:
I've always thought this was a great building, but had never seen it up close before, very cool images. i agree with some of the spaces looking like they were left undesigned. Is the building used as apartments today, or is it just barren?
Pretty sure they are still being used today. They were designed as cheap housing however these days i have heard that to own one of these apartments can set you back a fair bit being expensive. So the affordable housing doesnt sit well these days but the building is overwhelmingly complex. It stuns me how such a building could have been concieved and communicated throughout the design and construction process.
since it was purchased by its tenants in 1985, it is now a privately owned condominium.
A good source for the apartment interiors and furnishing details;
http://www.space1999.net/~sorellarium13/habitat-67.htm
I've always been a fan of this structure. Posted pics dont show that each apartment has it's own garden, which in summer give a less sterile presence to the buildings.
It stuns me how such a building could have been concieved and communicated throughout the design and construction process.
I understand that a repetition of preconstructed lego-like modules, lifted into place, assisted in minimising it's complexity.... these modules were arranged to create 16 differently configured living spaces, for a total of 158 residences within the complex.
This project never realised it's full intent. The original design was two thirds bigger, 20 storeys high and had integrated schools, shops, offices and cultural spaces. I dont think the system was ever used again.
In summer, at sunset....from across the river
taxodaxo
06-05-2008, 21:05
McGill University has a repository of the original drawings. It is a fascinating study to see the thought behind the structure, servicing etc. Since they are subject to copyright, I'll post a url to one archive.
http://cac.mcgill.ca/safdie/habitat/showplans.htm
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