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Precedents / Habitat 67

View from the walk-way looking up.

Habitat 67 is a housing complex located in Montreal, Canada designed by Moshe Safdie and built in 1967 for the World’s Exposition. The housing complex is made up of prefabricated modules combined in different ways to make up various combinations. Each uses between one and five modules. The complex consists of 354 modules making up 158 residences. The residences themselves range from 600 square feet (one bedroom) to 1800 square feet (four bedrooms). The complex contains three elevator cores that stop every fourth floor of the twelve story complex, giving the residents access to pedestrian footpaths that link the dwellings. The complex contains roof gardens, private terraces,

Habitat 67Project Overview

central heating and cooling, and covered parking for the residents in each dweling. The original design was meant to contain 1000 units, including a retail facility. However, the project was minimized for the World’s Exposition. All the parts of this 12 story complex are load bearing and connected by post tensioning cables, high-tension rods, cables, and welding. This makes the complex one continuous suspension system.

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View of the Habitat 67 exterior.

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Precedents / Habitat 67

Axon of one of the ten units.

giving people more ownership and independence than usual. Throughout the years, Habitat 67 has maintained a large amount of long term residents. Some of them have even completed major renovations such as knocking down walls and combining multiple units into one. Safdie, as a result, views the housing complex as a success. He does not believe that people would have stayed in the units so long or put forth so many renovation efforts if his overall idea for Habitat 67 was not implemented well.

One of Safdie’s main ideas for Habitat 67 was promoting a strong relationship between the residents and their homes. In a typical apartment or condo complex, people do not usually feel the same ownership as they might in a single family home because they identify their space as only a small portion of the building as a whole. By breaking the residences out of an all-encompassing envelope, Safdie was able to allow people to feel that they really owned their own spaces. They could identify the walls and roof of their residence and define what belongs to them. By doing so, Safdie knew he could create a unique living environment that allowed for strong community connection while still

Habitat 67Project Context

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View from rooftop terrace.

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Precedents / Habitat 67

Habitat 67 during construction.

Habitat 67 was designed using prefabricated modules to both cut down costs and implement the use of prefabrication. Though it failed to inspire a trend in the use of prefabricated modules, Habitat 67 remains a successful housing complex. The various patterns of stacking the modules to create residential units makes it so that each dwelling has a variety of views and access to roof gardens. The units are all connected by three elevator cores and pedestrian pathways which were build on site.The 354 modules found in the Habitat 67 complex were prefabricated on site. They were molded using a steel cage, measuring about thirty-eight by seventeen feet, and when they

Habitat 67Building Systems + Construction

were cured, the box was moved to an assembly line in which the electrical, windows, insulation, modular kitchens, modular bathrooms, and mechanical systems were installed. When the modules completed the assembly line, they were lifted into place and attached to the other modules using steel cables.

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Habitat 67 during construction.

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Precedents / Habitat 67

The units of Habitat 67 are stacked in such a way that each is offset or rotated based on the dimensions of the miodule. Doing so keeps the entire cluster organized despite its random appearance. The terraces, walkways, and staircases are all derived off of this module as well.

Transverse building section cut.

Habitat 67Building System Analysis

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Cluster of Habitat 67 “boxes“ highlighting 2

bedroom unit.

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Precedents / Habitat 67

Habitat 67Module Analysis

The Module, at its simpliest form, is a 17ftX38ftX12ft rectangular prism. These rectangles are pre-fabricated on site and lifted into place. Once the modules are in place, the interior partition wall, as well as the modular kitchens and bathrooms and window frames, are installed. Each unit has balconies or terreces. These are made using the top of the unit below as base. Similarly, the unit provides the base for the terraces above.

Module Floor Plan: Two Bedroom Unit Using 2 Prefabricated Modules

Detail Module Axonometric

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Key

Interior Component

Major Component

Window Connection

Interior Connection

Major Connection

Exploded Detail Module Axonometric Drawing