How a 23-Year-Old Solved Urban Sprawl

This video contains paid promotion for Unreal Engine by Epic Games.

Additional footage and images courtesy of Epic Games, Neoscape, Inc., Safdie Architects, Matias-Garabedian, Trofar, CBS Sunday Morning, TED, Spirit of Space, Discover Montreal, QHD Habitat, Toto, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, United Artists, Tom Parnell, Jean-Etienne Minh-Duy Poirrier, Bellisario, Lego, University of Toronto, Thomas Ledl/CC BY-SA 4.0, If Walls Could Speak by Moshe Safdie, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and Vertigo Films.

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[Adlil]

the designer after design : it’s a masterpiece !

the engineer and the builder : oh lord

[rwrocksteady]

didnt expect to get emotional, how great for him to see his work appreciated in this way!

[fndne]

Anyone who's been to Habitat 67 knows that the neighborhoods of Montreal itself are walkable, not sprawly. But to get to Habitat 67, and to get from Habitat 67 to go shopping, you need a car or you need to bike along a road that isn't bike or pedestrian friendly at all.

[ChongJiaHao]

As a Singaporean, I am extremely grateful for Moshe Safdie Arvhitects for bringing our icons such as Marina Bay Sands and The Jewel to being built and showcased to the World! Not forgetting other projects too.

[GameOn]

I live in Europe in a concrete tower and one of the biggest problems is keeping it warm in the winter because concrete gets very cold. This model exposes almost every apartment to outer elements. That requires more insulation, more waterproofing, etc. Those terraces look nice but that means that every apartment has a roof to worry about (that is why the top-floor apartments are always the cheapest... they leak).

[critterkarma]

I was a kid, when my family visited Montreal’s Expo 67, from NY. I still remember how impressed I was with Habitat, and simultaneously, disappointed that there were only a few spaces/homes open to visit. I asked my parents if we could live there. Perhaps now, Habitat will finally be realized beyond the virtual world.

[mikecapson]

As a 3D Visualizer, ther Guy who modeled the building has all my respect.. I cant imagine how complex and unreadable the drawings must have been :D

[ELMS]

I’m a Canadian who remembers expo67 and Habitat, but I never really understood the concept of the residence until seeing your video. Much appreciated, Fred. Really well done. 👍

[itskhalilb]

What I love is even though Safdie proposed (and built) a world changing concept he still seems to retain his humility and ability to be humble about this amazing creation. Kudos

[louisperron]

As a former architecture student in Montréal, you created a masterpiece. Moshe Safdie created something way ahead of its time. I cycle often in front if it and every time it never ceazes to amaze me. Great job!

[jasper-cg]

With professional interviews, cinematography, this youtube video has a feel of a high budget documentary. Creator of this channel has been consistently increasing his quality. kudos!!

[AlleyCat]

I am from Montreal and live close to Habitat 67, I look at it almost every day. No one can understand what this project means to Montrealers unless you are from here. It is both utopian and dystopian and a massive part of the local zeitgeist. Imagine strolling in Old Montreal amongst Greco-Roman inspired buildings, Notre Dame cathedral and classic North American colonial stone homes, you look across the water and see this insane futuristic stacking of concrete cubes isolated on an island like a museum piece and you wonder “wow, what in the world is that??”. It’s one of a kind, a dream that was never realized beyond this single project. The brutalist architecture covered with plants emphasizes the “lost world” feel to it. And yet, mixed use housing, daring architecture and an emphasis on landscape architecture is making a massive comeback in city living across the world. Think Hudson Yards in NYC. The vision IS coming true, but in a modern fashion. Long Live Habitat 67.

[Celis.C]

This, my dearest B1M. This is what I watch your channel for. What an absolutely amazing concept and story!
Thanks for sharing it!

[petrab.]

As some other people have pointed out, winters in montreal get very cold, especially just off of the st lawrence without any natural shielding from the wind. The structure of the design is cool and a longstanding cultural monument that we all love, but it's widely known to be a freezer box that's hell to heat in the winter. There is no way that by now we haven't figured out ways to heat and insulate modular buildings like these while also doing something about the grey concrete coffin look that feels more like urban hellscape than green paradise. We need ideas like these--but we need to make them better.

[saintsfearful]

As a structural engineer I can list a number of reasons why this hasn’t taken off. You can make a modular structure without having an unnecessary amount of bending moments by overhangs. The difficulty of the design was even mentioned in this video. Architects notoriously design structures that look cool but are a nightmare for engineers and builders to implement. I’m the first to be critical of urban sprawl and single use zoning, but in light of the outrageous cost of housing nowadays we need to also consider practicality of construction as well as livability.

[fishijoe]

Well deserved spotlight on Habitat67! Was not expecting to see the B1M make a video on the "Lego City" in my hometown

[vinayprakash]

The design doesn't look like it's 50 years old. It looks modern.

[developingtank]

One of your coolest videos. Makes me think about how many topics haven’t been touched on YouTube, how much the world can still grow and change, and how cool it is that people use products of their times and place (Lego then/Unreal now) to fully realize visions as much as possible. I know you do some already, but I hope you do more videos about subjects with a lot of history. The history element of architecture is so cool. 🙌

[expojam]

I’m so happy that Switzerland has adopted these concepts into its apartment designs! Ppl really love the open terrance design and proximity to certain places to Really hits home how great Safdie’s ideas are

[TheUrbanSpartacuz]

This has been one of the best episodes I've seen from you guys since following for the last 2 years. I know you guys need the sponsorship's for the channel to thrive but lately the episodes feel a lot like advertising for software and companies and not the documentary style on engineering and architecture I've come to enjoy. This one however, excellent in both the content and editing, with the advert link at the last minute of the episode where it doesn't feel intrusive and I actually want to go check out that virtual model of the Habitat render. Well done B1M team, please keep this as the standard.