Introducing Moshe Safdie
"Who is Moshe Safdie?" You may ask. Well, Moshe Safdie is the guy in the picture to the left. But there is a whole lot more to Moshe Safdie than him being in a picture. Moshe Safdie is a famous architect who is internationally-known. This website page will tell you all about Moshe Safdie and his buildings.
History of Moshe
Moshe Safdie was educated in Israel as a child, and then he moved to Montreal, Canada with his family as a teenager. Later in 1959, he married Nina Nusynowicz and afterwards had two children. Two years later in 1961, he graduated from McGill University with a degree in architecture. Soon after he graduated, he became an apprentice to Louis I. Kahn. Much later in life, he returned to Montreal and took charge of a master plan for the Expo '67. He was designing a modern apartment building to be called the Habitat '67. Habitat '67 soon became an urban-living icon. This is how he became internationally known. Ever since then, he has been making amazing building designs for various customers.
Famous Buildings
Moshe has a lot of famous buildings, but there are some buildings he made that just stand out and make you amazed. Here are a couple of them. His first and arguably best building designed was the Habitat '67. This building was the star of the show at the Expo '67, and definitely got lots of attention from everyone. The next building is Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem was made to commemorate the six million Jewish men, women, and children murdered in the years 1933-1945. Another famous building Moshe Safdie designed was the Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex. This complex is a museum of the Sikh people located in the holy town, Anandpur. The museum celebrates the 500 years of Sikh history. The Kauffman Center of Performing Arts is also one of Moshe's great buildings. It is a popular place and tourist attraction in Kansas City. These buildings are all internationally known.
Habitat '67
Habitat '67 is a multi-family housing building located in Montreal, Canada. It is also one of the best works of Moshe Safdie, and was the spotlight of the Expo '67. This building consists of 158 rooms for people to live in. Actually, the building was planned to have 900 rooms, but the budget of the project wasn't enough.
Philosophy
Moshe Safdie has a few main philosophies when it comes to designing a building. He believes that the design of the buildings should contribute to the community. All of the buildings he has designed promote to its' communities. For example, Habitat '67 provides a safe living environment for the local people in Montreal. He also thinks the design should embody a sense of its purpose.
Yad Vashem was designed to have an enormous room full of pictures of the Jewish people that died, so that the room gives a sense of mourning and sadness. This room is called the Hall of Names.
His third main philosophy is that the building should be like an addition to its natural environment. One of Moshe's buildings was built partly on a lake! This building was an observatory next to a local lake.
Yad Vashem was designed to have an enormous room full of pictures of the Jewish people that died, so that the room gives a sense of mourning and sadness. This room is called the Hall of Names.
His third main philosophy is that the building should be like an addition to its natural environment. One of Moshe's buildings was built partly on a lake! This building was an observatory next to a local lake.
Style
Moshe Safdie's original, modern style of architecture is admired everywhere. His style is known for dramatic curves, arrays of geometric patterns, and his use of windows. He often puts in open natural areas in key places in his designs. Whenever he designs a building, he pays special attention to the geography and the culture of the area the building is.