Celebrating Israeli Icons: Moshe Safdie

 

An architect, an author, an educator, and an icon, Moshe Safdie is an Israeli-Canadian who boasts an incredible resume. When he was young, Moshe used to muse that he'd grow up to be a farmer. Instead, he revolutionize modern architecture and established a standing legacy of more than 100 recognizable projects in countries across the entire globe.

Born to a Jewish family in Haifa in 1938, Safdie grew up in a tumultuous time in Israeli history. It was a nation in transition from the British Partition system to Independent rule, a people reeling from the devastation of the holocaust, a sense of constant change and development clung to every moment. These themes would reverberate throughout his later work. 

Immigrating to Canada with his family in 1952, a teenaged Moshe flourished in his new homeland. He excelled at his studies, winning several academic scholarships that enabled him to not only attend McGill University, but to travel extensively throughout Canada and the US. It was during this time of study and travel, exploring the great cities of North America, that he would develop his interests in architecture, urban planning, and alternative housing systems; The passions that would propel his career in the coming years. 

Safdie wrestled with the complexities of the modern city. The conflicting needs between convenience and space, against those of community, connectedness, and harmony. He saw the suburbs of America and Canada's growing population as a problem, not a solution to expanding cities. Isolated little islands of people that destroyed the broader notion of a community of people and led, inevitably, to sprawl. But he also saw the difficulties of densely populated areas. The limited, institutionalized spaces of large apartment complexes, the lack of green spaces and relaxation spots that make a home feel like home.

Enter Habitat 67, Safdie's  thesis project for his architecture program at McGill University. It was a radical departure from standard thought. A towering assembly of prefabricated apartment units arranged, stacked, and skewed in various combinations and forms. A totally unique design that merged the population density of a megablock apartment with the amenities, comfort, and community of a traditional neighborhood. The result was an unworldly structure of separate blocks and apartments dotted with terraces, green spaces, elevation changes, and walking paths. Safdie saw it as the answer to the problems facing the modern city.

His professors were more divided. While all his peers recognized the ambition and incredible complexity of the design, there were worries that it was simply too revolutionary, too ahead of its time (or belonging to a different world altogether) to be useful. While he failed to win the Pilkington Prize for the best thesis at a Canadian school of architecture, another opportunity would arise – the chance to build it for real

Sandy van Ginkel, Safdie's former thesis advisor, came to him with a proposition. A challenge to develop the master plan for Expo 67, the World's Fair coming to Montreal in 1967. "A fairy tale, an amazing fairy tale" was how Safdie would later describe the opportunity. 

 

 

A stunning architectural wonder, Habitat 67 launched Safdie's career. He established a design house based on his principals and was approached by numerous countries and clients looking for a unique and truly original building to make a statement with. He worked on projects as diverse as the sloping domed casement of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, the glass tower of the Canadian National Gallery, and the tranquil Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv.

Perhaps his most significant work however would be his tribute to those lost in the Holocaust, his design for Yad Vashem.  

While Yad Vashem was originally established in 1953, plans developed in 1993 for a modern redesign of the museum, one with a renewed focus. As an Israeli and a celebrated architect, Safdie was the perfect choice for the job. 

He envisioned a prismatic building lit with a skylight that would take visitors on a guided tour of the Jewish experience of the Holocaust. While the previous design had focused on the historical circumstances of the tragedy, the rise of antisemitism in Europe, the uprisings and resistance of Jewish neighborhoods, and the deathcamps that claimed so many lives, Safdie envisioned a more personal experience. Each of the 10 exhibition halls are dedicated to a different chapter of the Holocaust and throughout the journey, the stories of more than 90 Holocaust victims are told. The goal being to illustrate that each and every victim of the Holocaust was a real person, with a life, family, and loved ones left behind. 

 

 

In addition to designing some of the most stunning buildings to have ever been built, Safdie has also taught, passing down his ideas and beliefs to a new generation of architects and engineers. He's taught at his alma mater, McGill, in the ivy league with both Yale and Harvard, and in his homeland at the Ben-Gurion University in Negev. A legacy of accomplishment.