The failed dream of Montreal’s Habitat ‘67. · Photos by Geoffrey
James If you drive past Montreal’s industrial waterfront to 2600
Avenue Pierre-Dupuy, you’ll confront one of the most fantastic
experiments in twentieth-century architecture. At Habitat 67,
raw concrete catwalks and cantilevered blocks hover above,
overlapping and interlocking; forms jut and recede in and out of
your visual field like a cubist painting come to life. But
Habitat was never touted to be something as trivial as mere art:
this ten-storey apartment complex once promised an architectural
revolution that would bring housing to everyone. Its resounding
failure on that count says less about the structure, though,
than it does about our collective self-delusion. Built as the
crown jewel of Expo 67, Habitat was Canada’s first truly
ideological government-sponsored architecture. Erected on an
artificial peninsula extending from the island of Montreal, it
was launched as a manifesto for universal, affordable urban
housing. At that time, four