Montreal Gazette

More than 40 years ago, Moshe Safdie's design for Habitat 67 was deemed so farfetched - or as he recalls, "such a stupid idea'' - that critics called for a royal commission to nix the housing project at Cité du Havre. Yet when the acclaimed 69-year-old architect looks at what passes for avant-garde today, he can't help feeling that his landmark scheme - for a tumble of building blocks stacked to allow for maximum sunlight and green space - is a concept whose time has yet to come. "Even as it was being built, I think we all realized it was one hell of a breakthrough," said Safdie, who returns to Montreal today for a lecture and retrospective exhibit at McGill University's school of architecture. "But since the 1970s, the quality of urban design has regressed," he said. While resorts and luxury developments have incorporated some of Habitat's principles for more livable urban dwellings, Safdie said congestion, economics, dependence and lack of vision have all contributed to modern cities where people seem to take it for granted that they will live in large sterile apartment towers.