Moshe Safdie designed Habitat 67, the modular housing complex built for Expo 67 in Montreal.
Habitat 67 was Safdie’s graduate thesis project at McGill University and became one of the best-known architectural experiments in prefabricated housing. The complex uses hundreds of identical concrete modules arranged in interlocking stacks. The design sought to combine the density of urban apartments with features associated with individual houses, including terraces, daylight, and outdoor space.
The project was built for Expo 67, the Montreal world’s fair, whose theme included housing and the future. Although Habitat 67 was conceived as a prototype for affordable mass housing, its construction and engineering were expensive, and it did not become a low-cost housing model at the scale originally envisioned.
The complex remains a residential property rather than only a monument. Its distinctive stepped form, exposed concrete, and private terraces made it an influential example of modular and high-density housing design.