Habitat 67 - Legacy

Legacy

As one of the major symbols of Expo 67, which was attended by over 50 million people during the year it was open, Habitat 67 gained world-wide acclaim as a "fantastic experiment" and "architectural wonder". This experiment was and is regarded as both a success and failure—it "redefined urban living" and has since become "a very successful co-op", but at the same time ultimately failed to revolutionize affordable housing or launch a wave of prefabricated, modular development as Safdie had envisioned. Despite its problems, however, Habitat's fame and success "made reputation" and helped launch his career; Safdie has now designed over 75 buildings and master plans around the world.

Even now, more than 40 years after Habitat, much of Safdie's work still holds to the concepts that were so fundamental to its design, especially the themes of reimagining high-density housing and improving social integration through architecture that have become "synonymous" with his work.