Legendary Architect Moshe Safdie- The Genius Behind Altair

Celebrated architect, the author of 4 books, numerous essays and lecturer, Israeli born, Canadian educated and United Stated based Moshe Safdie is a quintessential global citizen who has been widely recognised for his influence on the built environment. His projects can be found in North and South America, the Middle East and throughout Asia and in Australia, spanning across a wide range of typologies including airports, museums, performing art spaces, libraries, houses and entire cities. His body of work over 50 years includes Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, Kauffman Centre for the Performing Arts in Kansas City and Habitat 67 in Montreal, which he designed when he was 24 years old. Considered a luminary in the field of architecture, Safdie is the genius behind the Altair project in Sri Lanka. On completion Altair will comprise of a distinguishing 63 storey leaning tower and a tall 68 storey vertical tower. Altair will have 400 luxury apartments that offer spectacular views of the Beira Lake, the Indian Ocean and the city of Colombo. Intended to be a one of its kind development in South Asia in terms of architectural design, structural engineering and living experience, Altair ’s 1.5 million square feet of high-end eco friendly living space will be supported by upmarket retail space.

- Tina Edward Gunawardhana

With the designing of Habitat 67 you were seen as an architect ahead of the curve. How did that happen?

It was fate. When you think back, I was only 24 years at the time and I had an office of young people my age. Habitat 67 was one of the most complicated and complex buildings that I had designed. The people who had to approve it were civil servants and it was a miracle they approved it. It was a special moment for Canada with the centennial happening. Everyone was optimistic about the future and they all banded together for this project. I don’t think it will happen today as civil servants will not risk building anything so experimental and take a chance with a young person who had never built a building before. Habitat was a mixed use project. It had schools, retail space, hotels and apartments but we did not integrate offices. The projects we do now incorporates housing and the Marina Bay Sands project even as a museum too. With Habitat 67 I used Lego to help design the building.

Do you still use Lego?

 Not much, but there is a funny story with Lego. Forty years later they have made a Lego kit for Marina Bay Sands. I wrote to Lego and asked if they could create a kit for Habitat. They replied that they had attempted to but it was too difficult, even though it was the first building I had conceived using Lego!

What kind of space did you have in mind when designing the Marina Bay Sands?