Safdie, Moshe, << SAHF dee, MOY shuh >> (1938-…), is a Canadian architect and urban designer. He is best known for the high-density housing project called Habitat that he designed for the Expo 67 international exhibition in Montreal. Habitat was composed of prefabricated cubes, identical in size, which were combined in various groupings to create 15 different house types for a unified complex of 158 apartments. These connected apartments became small urban villages in which each unit retained its individuality and privacy. Improved, low-cost versions of Habitat have been built in Israel, New York City, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Safdie was born on July 14, 1938, in Haifa, Israel, and became a Canadian citizen in 1959 while studying architecture at McGill University in Montreal. Habitat was partly inspired by the villages Safdie observed in the Middle East. Among Safdie’s other commissions is his highly praised design for the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, which opened in 1988. He also designed the Vancouver Library Square (1995) in British Columbia; the Skirball Cultural Center (1996) in Los Angeles; the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (2011) in Kansas City, Missouri; and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2011) in Bentonville, Arkansas. In addition, Safdie has designed several city planning projects and buildings in Israel, including Terminal 3 (2004) at the Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
