Israeli-Canadian architect"Safdie" redirects here. For the filmmaking duo, see Safdie brothers.

Moshe Safdie CC FAIA FRAIC OAA (Hebrew: משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he has explored principles of socially responsible design. Sited in venues as diverse as North and South America, the Middle East, and many parts of Asia, his projects include cultural, educational, and civic ins*utions; neighborhoods and public parks; housing; mixed-use urban centers; airports; and master plans for existing communities and entirely new cities. He is most identified with designing Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport, as well as his debut project, Habitat 67, originally conceived as his thesis at McGill University. It launched his international career.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Career
• 3 Practice
• 4 Academia
• 5 Personal life
• 6 Individual honors
• 7 Published works
  • 7.1 Books
  • 7.2 Principal publications on Moshe Safdie
• 8 Exhibitions
• 9 Films
• 10 Archives
• 11 Select projects
• 12 Gallery
• 13 References
• 14 External links

Early life and education

Moshe Safdie was born in Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine, in 1938, to a Sephardic Jewish family of Syrian-Jewish and Lebanese-Jewish descent. He was nine years old, living in Haifa, when, on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. Safdie attended Reali High School. He lived on a kibbutz, working in the countryside. He tended goats and kept bees. In 1953, the Israeli government restricted imports in response to an economic and currency crisis, which severely affected Safdie's father's textile business. Consequently, when Safdie was 15, his family immigrated to Montreal. There, he completed pre-university training at Westmount High School.

In September 1955, he registered for the six-year architectural degree program at the McGill University Faculty of Engineering. In his fifth year, Safdie was named University Scholar. The following summer, he was awarded the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Scholarship. He traveled across North America to observe housing developments in major cities. In his final year, Safdie developed his thesis, en*led "A Case for City Living" and described as "A Three-Dimensional Modular Building System". He received his degree in 1961. Two years later, while apprenticing with Louis Kahn, Safdie at age 23 was invited by his thesis advisor, Sandy van Ginkel, to submit his modular project for the World Exposition of 1967, to be held in Montreal. Constructed permanently there, it became known as Habitat 67.

Career

Encomp*ing more than 75 completed buildings, communities, and master plans on three continents and an even greater number of projects and compe*ion entries, Safdie's career has evolved in a series of distinct phases.

In 1964, Safdie established his own firm in Montreal to undertake work on Habitat 67, an adaptation of his thesis at McGill University. Habitat 67 was selected by Canada as a central feature of Expo 67; it pioneered the design and implementation of three-dimensional, prefabricated units for living. Safdie designed the complex as a neighborhood with open spaces, garden terraces, and many other amenities typically reserved for the single-family home, and adapted to a high-density urban environment. This was an important development in architectural history. This seminal project launched the first phase of Safdie's work: A new kind of urbanism.

In the second phase of his career, Safdie established a branch office of his practice in Jerusalem in 1970. During this period, Safdie combined his interests in social activism and advanced technologies with profound respect for historic and regional context. He worked on the restoration of the Old City and the construction of Mamilla Center, linking old and new cities. Other significant works in Israel include the New City of Modi’in, the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum, Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, Ben Gurion International Airport, National Campus for the Archeology of Israel, multiple projects for Hebrew Union College, and others. During this period, Safdie also worked with leaders in Senegal and Iran.

In the third phase of his career, Safdie received commissions for significant buildings across North America. He took his interest in geometry as a generator of architectural shape in a new direction, combining it with a focus on sensual and symbolic architectural experience, and working to understand clients’ aspirations. He expressed civic and national iden*ies in his cultural projects. Safdie designed the National Gallery of Canada, the Quebec Museum of Civilization, and Vancouver Library Square. Other notable cultural works include: The Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex, the national museum of the Sikh people in Punjab, India; the United States Ins*ute of Peace Headquarters on the Mall in Washington, DC; the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri; and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Safdie's twenty-first century projects are characterized by greater geographic range. He has worked on projects in emerging markets, and brought projects to completion in shorter time spans, at larger scales. These landmark developments include: Marina Bay Sands, a mixed-use resort integrated with Singapore's iconic Skypark; Jewel Changi Airport, a new community-centric airport typology combining marketplace and garden; and Raffles City Chongqing, a mixed-use development featuring over one million square meters of housing, office, retail, transportation, and hotel programs. He created the world's longest ‘Horizontal Skyscraper.’ Safdie and his team have used skybridges and multi-level connectivity to make skyscrapers more accessible.

Practice

Moshe Safdie is the Founding Principal and Lead Designer at Safdie Architects, founded in 1964 to realize Habitat 67. Safdie Architects is a research-oriented architecture and urban design studio active in a wide variety of project types, scales, and sectors. Safdie Architects’ global projects are directed from its headquarters in Boston, M*achusetts, with satellite offices in Jerusalem, Toronto, Shanghai, and Singapore. Projects are designed, managed, and executed by a global team of fewer than 100. The practice is organized as a partnership and operates in the model of an intimate design studio environment. The firm's partners – many of whom joined Safdie after graduation – have been working together for decades.

Within his office, Safdie formed a research program to pursue advanced investigation of design topics. The practice-oriented fellowship explores speculative ideas outside normal business practice constraints. Fellows work independently with Safdie and firm principals to formulate specific proposals and research plans. The salaried position is located in-residence, with full access to project teams and outside consultants. Past fellowships include Habitat of the Future, Mobility on Demand, and Tall Buildings in the City.

Academia

In 1978, after teaching at McGill, Ben Gurion, and Yale universities, Safdie was appointed Director of the Urban Design Program at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD) and moved to Boston, M*achusetts. He served as Director until 1984. From 1984 to 1989, he was the Ian Woodner Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard. Safdie continues to work closely with the GSD, frequently teaching design studio; Notably, Rethinking the Humanist High-Rise (2019) and Rethinking Hudson Yards (2017). Safdie regularly travels to, speaks at, and/or Chairs conferences engaged in industry-defining discussions on architecture and beyond.

Personal life

In 1959, Safdie married Nina Nusynowicz, a Polish-Israeli Holocaust survivor. Safdie and Nusynowicz have two children, a daughter and son, born during the inception and erection of Habitat 67. Just before the opening, Safdie and his young family moved into the development. His daughter Taal is an architect in San Diego, a partner of the firm Safdie Rabines Architects; His son Oren is a playwright who has written several plays about architecture. Safdie's great-nephews, Josh and Benny, are independent filmmakers. Safdie and Nusynowicz divorced in 1981.

In 1981, Safdie married Michal Ronnen, a Jerusalem-born photographer and daughter of artist Vera Ronnen. Safdie and Ronnen have two daughters, Carmelle and Yasmin. Carmelle is an artist, and Yasmin is a social worker.

Individual honors

Safdie is the recipient of architectural, academic and civic honors – including several honorary doctorates. He was awarded the Companion of the Order of Canada, the Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Ins*ute of Canada and the American Ins*ute of Architects, the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian, and the Wolf Prize in Architecture.

• 2020: Genius Award, Liberty Science Center
• 2020: Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)
• 2019: Honorary Doctorate, Technion – Israel Ins*ute of Technology
• 2019: Wolf Prize in Architecture, International Wolf Foundation
• 2018: Lifetime Achievement Award, Design Futures Council
• 2015: Gold Medal, American Ins*ute of Architects
• 2012: Medaille du Merite, Ordre des architectes du Québec
• 2005: Companion Order of Canada, Governor General-in-Council of Canada
• 2003: Lifetime Achievement Award, YIVO Ins*ute for Jewish Research
• 2002: Honorary Fellow, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
• 2001: Honorary Doctorate, Hebrew College
• 1997: Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in the Visual Arts, National Foundation for Jewish Culture
• 1996: Honorary Doctorate in Engineering, Technical University of Nova Scotia
• 1996: Academy Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1995: Gold Medal, Royal Architectural Ins*ute of Canada
• 1995: College of Fellows, American Ins*ute of Architects
• 1993: Richard Neutra Award for Professional Excellence, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
• 1989: Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, University of Victoria
• 1988: Honorary Doctorate in Sciences, Laval University
• 1987: Mt. Scopus Award for Humanitarianism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• 1986: The Order of Canada, Governor General-in-Council of Canada
• 1982: Honorary Doctor of Law, McGill University
• 1982: Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal for Distinction in Design, Tau Sigma Delta Grand Chapter
• 1961: Lieutenant Governor's Gold Medal for Exceptional Merit, Lieutenant Governor of Québec

Published works

Books

• With Intention to Build: The Unrealized Concepts, Ideas, and Dreams of Moshe Safdie. Ed. Michael Crosbie. Melbourne, Victoria: Images Publishing Group, 2020.
• Megascale, Order & Complexity. Ed. Michael Jemtrud. Montreal: McGill University School of Architecture, 2009.
• The City After the Automobile: An Architect's Vision. With Wendy Kohn. New York: Basic Books; Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co., 1997.
• The Language and Medium of Architecture (lecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design delivered November 15, 1989)
• Jerusalem: The Future of the Past. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
• Beyond Habitat by 20 Years. Ed. John Kettle. Montreal and Plattsburgh, NY: Tundra Books, 1987.
• The Harvard Jerusalem Studio: Urban Designs for the Holy City. *t. eds. Rudy Barton and Uri Shetrit. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1985.
• Form & Purpose. Ed. John Kettle. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
• Habitat Bill of Rights With Nader Ardalan, George Candilis, Balkrishna V. Doshi, and Josep Lluís Sert. Imperial Government of Iran Ministry of Housing, 1976.
• For Everyone A Garden. Ed. Judith Wolin. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1974.
• Beyond Habitat. Ed. John Kettle. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1970.
• Habitat. Montreal: Tundra Books, 1967.

Principal publications on Moshe Safdie

• Jewel Changi Airport. Melbourne, Victoria: Images Publishing Group, 2020.
• Safdie. Mulgrave, Victoria: Images Publishing Group, 2014.
• Reaching for the Sky: The Marina Bay Sands Singapore. Singapore: ORO Editions, 2013.
• Peace Building: The Mission, Work, and Architecture of the United States Ins*ute of Peace. Dalton, MA: The Studley Press, 2011.
• Valentin, Nilda, ed. Moshe Safdie. Rome: Edizione Kappa, 2010.
• Moshe Safdie I. Mulgrave, Victoria: Images Publishing Group, 2009.
• Moshe Safdie II. Mulgrave, Victoria: Images Publishing Group, 2009.
• Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie. New York:Scala Publishers, Ltd., 2007.
• Yad Vashem: Moshe Safdie – The Architecture of Memory. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2006.
• Moshe Safdie, Museum Architecture 1971–1988. Tel Aviv: Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University, 1998.
• Kohn, Wendy, ed. Moshe Safdie. London: Academy Editions, 1996.
• Moshe Safdie: Buildings and Projects, 1967–1992. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996.
• Rybczynski, Witold. A Place for Art: The Architecture of the National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1993.
• Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Arts, 1991.

Exhibitions

• 2017: Habitat 67 vers l’avenir: The Shape of Things to Come, Université du Québec à Montréal
• 2010–2014: Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada / Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California / Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
• 2012–2013: Moshe Safdie: The Path to Crystal Bridges, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
• 2004: An Architect's Vision: Moshe Safdie’s Jepson Center for the Arts, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA
• 2003–2004: Building a New Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, M*achusetts, USA
• 1998: Moshe Safdie, Museum Architecture 1971–1998, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
• 1989: Moshe Safdie, Projects: 1979–1989, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, M*achusetts, USA
• 1985: The National Gallery of Canada, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, M*achusetts, USA / National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1982: Context, Traveling exhibit sponsored by New York Ins*ute for the Humanities
• 1973–1974: For Everyone A Garden, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, USA / National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada / San Francisco MoMA, San Francisco, California, USA

Films

• 2020: "Moshe Safdie: Another Dimension of Architecture," I-Talk Productions
• 2018: "Time Space Existence," Plane-Site
• 2004: "Moshe Safdie: The Power of Architecture," Dir. Donald Winkler
• 2003: "My Architect: A Son’s Journey," Dir. Nathaniel Kahn
• 1997: "The Sound of the Carceri with Yo-Yo Ma," Dir. Francois Girard
• 1973: "The Innocent Door" / "Coldspring New Town," National Film Board of Canada

Archives

The Moshe Safdie Archive, donated to McGill University by the architect in 1990, is one of the most extensive individual collections of architectural do*entation in Canada. Comprising material from 235 projects, the Moshe Safdie Archive records the progression of Safdie's career from his first unpublished university papers to Safdie Architects' current projects. The collection includes over 140,000 drawings, over 200 architectural models, extensive project files, audio visual and digital material, as well as over 100,000project photos and travel slides, 215 personal sketchbooks, and 2,250 large sketches. Administered by the McGill University Library, a list of physical holdings are available to researchers.

Select projects

Jewel Changi Airport, Singapore, 2019

• 1967: Habitat 67 at Expo 67 World's Fair, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1987: Musée de la Civilisation, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
• 1988: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1989: New City of Modi'in, Israel
• 1989: Esplanade Condominiums, Cambridge, M*achusetts, US
• 1991: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1992: The Cl* of 1959 Chapel, Harvard Business School, Boston, M*achusetts, US
• 1994: John G. Diefenbaker Building, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1994: Rosovsky Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, M*achusetts, US
• 1995: Yad Vashem Children's and Deportees Memorials, Jerusalem
• 1995: Vancouver Library Square, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1998: David Citadel Hotel and David's Village, Jerusalem
• 1998: Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem
• 1999: Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies and Rabin Tomb, Tel Aviv, Israel
• 2000: Exploration Place Science Museum, Wichita, Kansas, US
• 2003: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, M*achusetts, US
• 2003: Salt Lake City Public Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, US
• 2003: Cairnhill Road Condominiums, Singapore
• 2003: Eleanor Roosevelt College, University of California, San Diego, California, US
• 2004: Airside Building of Terminal 3, Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel
• 2005: Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum, Jerusalem
• 2006: Jepson Center for the Arts at Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, US
• 2007: Terminal 1, Toronto Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2008: United States Federal Courthouse, District of M*achusetts, Springfield, M*achusetts, US
• 2008: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Headquarters, Washington, D.C., US
• 2009: Mamilla Center, Jerusalem
• 2009: Mamilla Hotel, Jerusalem
• 2010: Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Singapore
• 2010: ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
• 2011: United States Ins*ute of Peace Headquarters, Washington, D.C., US
• 2011: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, US
• 2011: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, US
• 2011: Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex (Virasat-e-Khalsa), Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, India
• 2013: Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California
• 2012: Sky Habitat, Singapore
• 2017: Eling Residences, Chongqing, China
• 2017: Habitat Qinhuangdao, Qinhuangdao, China
• 2019: National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, Jerusalem
• 2019: Monde Residential Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2019: Jewel Changi Airport, Singapore
• 2020: Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing, China
• 2021: Serena del Mar, Cartagena, Colombia
• 2021: Altair, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Gallery

• Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Missouri

• The Cl* of 1959 Chapel, Boston, M*achusetts

• Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, M*achusetts

• Yitzhak Rabin Center, Tel Aviv

• Musée de la Civilisation, Quebec City

• Ottawa City Hall, Ottawa

• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

• Salt Lake City Public Library, Utah

• Vancouver Library Square, Vancouver, British Columbia

• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas

• Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

• Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California

• United States Ins*ute of Peace Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

• Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex, Anandpur Sahib, India

References

External links

• The Moshe Safdie Archive – McGill University
• Safdie Architects
• TED All-Stars, Reinventing the Apartment Building Presentation, 2014
• Moshe Safdie, AIA Gold Medal Award Acceptance Speech, 2015
• The Power of Architecture, 2013
• On Ethics, Order and Complexity by Moshe Safdie, 2009