Moshe Safdie
Architect
Israeli-Canadian architect, urban designer, educator, theorist, and author who designed Habitat 67, a model housing complex and landmark in Montreal.
He graduated from McGill University in 1961, after which he became an apprentice to Louis Kahn. He relocated to Jerusalem following the completion of Habitat 67, where he opened a branch office in 1970 and worked on such projects as Yad Vashem and Mamilla Mall.
He was known for his heavily geometric style that was focused on dramatic curves and angles and for his strategic arrangement of open and green spaces.
His family was residing in Haifa when he was born, but they relocated to Montreal in 1953. He married his first wife, Nina Nusynowicz, in 1959, with whom he fathered a daughter and a son. He later remarried to photographer Michal Ronnen in 1981 by whom he also fathered two daughters. His nephew, Dov Charney, was the founder and CEO of American Apparel.
He continued the Modernist tradition pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright.