Lecture: Moshe Safdie – in Search of new Typologies

I recently saw legendary architect Moshe Safdie lecture in Singapore (at the HDB PEAK Forum) on the topic “In Search of New Typologies”. Safdie has maintained a legendary status in the architectural community since his landmark Habitat ’67 building (done as part of his university thesis in 1967). However, it seems that the Israeli/Canadian architect has been up to some interesting things since the famous building that kicked off his career. Locally (in Singapore) he very well known for his iconic Marina Bay Sands building, which is so famous that it has inspired an official LEGO set. 

Safdie mentioned that lately he has been thinking more about urban planning than architecture. He made a very interesting point that while cities around the world have quickly become urbanised in the past century, using a brand-new high-rise building typology- we need to think of new urban typologies to go with them, rather than continuing to build our cities in the same way as when we were building only a few stories high (as most cities, even the largest metropolises, do today).

Looking at historical urban typologies such as courtyard houses, row houses, and special types such as the chamfered courtyard block plan in Barcelona, we can see the traditional building archetypes and the kind of city plan (often, a grid) was used in the past. The buildings in these cities rarely exceded a few levels. Safdie argued that there is a fundamental flaw with taking a new typology (high-rise / skyscraper) and superimposing on the same street system and infrastructure that was intended for low-rise development. Maintaining urban design status-quo with multiplied density may well be the reason behind congestion and disamenity that we see today in so many modern cities.

Modernist town planning (the likes of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe) proposes an efficient and rational alternative to traditional urbanism, however the sectionalised nature of these cities with dreary housing districts separated from the lively town centre, creates an unexciting and bleak urban environment.

Safdie instead proposes a spinally formed, linear/organic structure for city planning, with varied heights and mixed-use building typologies. One example is his masterplan for Mod’in (pictured above), which takes advantage of natural topography and mixes building heights to ensure short walking distances to lively stretches of activated public spaces and open, natural feel. Safdie stated, “Mixing typologies can enrich the urban experience”.

He also discussed his previous design for an HDB new town at Simpang (shown below), where he proposed achieving high density with varied building heights from low to high rise towers along the waterfront, with large scale urban windows through the tower blocks, allowing low rise units to enjoy sea views. 

He also talked about his most famous project -Habitat 67- which he described as a “fractalisation of the building mass” inspired by organic forms which allowed the creation of outdoor gardens in the sky for every unit, open-air sky streets, and to allow permeation of light and air into every unit. He described this concept using a metaphor of a tree- a natural form which has evolved to achieve maximum surface area for light and air to each leaf. 

This very concept that kickstarted Safdie’s career still continues through his research fellowship based on making the ideas of Habitat ’67 more economical and applicable for higher density development. He has executed this concept as several building typologies which allow maximum permeability for each dwelling while achieving extremely high density- often by stacking, which also allows wider-scale urban benefits through the activation of the ground plane with mixed-use typologies.Several examples of the application of this new typology:

It was truly inspiring to see this legendary architect describe his journey in architecture, and how his concepts have evolved over the 50 year span of his career. I’m excited to see what he will come up with next!