Habitat 67, The New Way of Urban Living

Every years, population of humans are highly increasing. This occurrence makes us happy because we get to see new little fluffy babies. But, on the other side, the governments worry about the insufficient space in this world for those newly born babies. To prevent this, or maybe just to slow it down, humans came up with the idea of flats and apartments. 

An architect from Canada, Moshe Safdie, came up with his extraordinary idea of apartments. He was inspired to make the design of the apartment so that all inhabitants have a garden. Then, Habitat 67 was born.

Its unusual appearance as an apartment drawn many people's attention. Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex in Montreal, Canada. It was originally conceived as Moshe Safdie's master's thesis in architecture at McGill University and then built as a pavilion for Expo 67, the World's Fair held from April to October 1967. It is located at 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy on the Marc-Drouin Quay next to the Saint Lawrence River. Habitat is widely considered an architectural landmark and one of the most recognizable and significant buildings in both Montreal and Canada.

Habitat comprises 354 identical, prefabricated concrete forms, arranged in various combinations, reaching up to 12 stories in height. Together these units create 146 residences of varying sizes and configurations, each formed from one to eight linked concrete units. The complex originally contained 158 apartments^, but several apartments have since been joined to create larger units, reducing the total number. Each unit is connected to at least one private terrace, which can range from approximately 225 to 1,000 square feet (20 to 90 m²) in size.

Moshe Safdie tried to combine the benefits from suburban living, such as fresh air, gardens and privacy with the economics and density of modern urban living. The trial to create such apartment was a success, but the trial to make it an affordable housing was a big fail. The high per unit cost more expensive than originally envisioned, approximately C$140,000 (about Rp1,4 billion).

Even so, during the year it was open, Habitat had gained world-wide acclaim such as a "fantastic experiment" and "architectural wonder". This experiment was and is considered as both success and failure. In spite of all the problems, however, Habitat's fame and success helped him in his career. Moshe Safdie has designed over 75 buildings and master plans around the world. 

Sky Habitat in Singapore is one of Safdie's design for Capitaland. With his concept in reimagining high-density housing and improving social integrations through architecture, he succeeded in creating a stunning design of a housing and also, an affordable price. 

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67