There you are, standing in Montreal's Old Port, gazing at the geometric cascade that is Habitat 67, and the thought pops into your head that it seems somewhat incomplete. Well, you're on to something.
As it stands, the iconic structure is a glimpse of what might have been. But thanks to technology, you can now virtually step into a world where Habitat 67 has finally reached its full potential.
The Montreal skyline behind the Hillside Sample Project at dusk.Sofia Misenheimer | MTL Blog
Unreal Engine, the powerhouse behind many of your favourite video games, including the wildly popular Fortnite, has sparked new life into Moshe Safdie's unfinished masterpiece. The Hillside Sample Project lets you immerse yourself in the architect's utopian dream for Montreal's skyline.
When Safdie, then a McGill University student, first drew up the plan for his innovative structure of cascading cubes, he planned a living space that merged the comfort of suburban homes with the communal spirit of city apartments. The concept wowed global audiences at Montreal's Expo 67, presenting a hopeful vision of the future.
The living areas are built on top of a park with waterways.Sofia Misenheimer | MTL Blog
But the Habitat 67 we know today, housing 158 residences, falls short of Safdie's full design featuring homes for 1,200 families.
His ambitious plan to create a sprawling, vertical community where nature blended with urban living was scaled back due to financial constraints ending up less than half the originally planned height.
A glimpse into a bedroom from a vine-covered balcony on the south side of the structure.Sofia Misenheimer | MTL Blog
You can explore the full extent of Habitat 67 and Hillside on your browser with Google Streaming. The virtual tour gives insight into Safdie's grand vision, along with the complexity and imagination behind one of Montreal's best-known landmarks.
As you explore the structure, you can move at your own pace or take a tour guided by Safdie himself. Links placed around the map offer short bursts of commentary from the architect.
"The quality of light and space would be extraordinary... like in a great Cathedral," Safdie says of the towering A-frames as viewers gape up at the beams overhead.
The attention to detail, from the texture of the concrete to the sound of birds, makes the digital site feel realistic. You can bask in the summer sun or stroll under fall foliage by altering the time of day or season, adding an extra layer of immersion to the virtual world.
Montreal's Farine Five Roses sign visible between the Hillside structure.Sofia Misenheimer | MTL Blog
The simulation shows apartments bathed in golden light, surrounded by communal spaces filled with trees, grass, and shrubs, along with fountains, pools, and manmade waterways. It gives you the feeling of living in a park.
"People prefer houses, that's why they're in the suburbs. Therefore, if we could reinvent the apartment building so that it gives you the quality of life of a house, garden, privacy, and access through an open street, people will be more willing to live in cities," Safdie explains during another part of the tour.
A view of Montreal's Old Port from a Habitat 67 balcony.Sofia Misenheimer | MTL Blog
Every unit in Hillside has a terrace designed to maximize sun exposure. The immersive experience, developed in collaboration with Safdie Architects and Neoscape, shows the creative potential of combining architectural vision and technology.
A visit to the space may make you wish that Safdie's dream had been fully realized. Given Montreal's current housing crisis, it might be time to take another, more serious look at Safdie's initial vision. The answer to urban living challenges might just lie in the past, locked away in the unfulfilled promise of Habitat 67.
