5. Moshe Safdie Focusing on Dense Urbanism at The National Academy Museum

1-Habitat67-Safdie Untapped Cities AFineLyne copyHabitat 67 at The National Academy Museum

Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie, the current exhibit at The National Academy Museum, explores the life and work of this prominent architect and urban designer over the course of his fifty-year career. This exhibit, which covers all floors of the museum, has a specific focus on projects devoted to issues of dense urbanism, beginning on the first floor with his iconic Habitat ’67 buildings shown in Montreal, Canada. What New Yorkers may be surprised to discover, is that Safdie, who would go on to design the Singapore Marina Bay Sands Hotel, the Institute of Peace in Washington D.C. and the forthcoming new Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore, had planned Habitat schemes for the New York City waterfront as well.

In the current exhibit, Safdie rethinks his original design in light of global changes over the years, such as massive population increases, shifting real estate economics, and social and cultural transformations. The National Academy Museum is located at 1083 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie will be on view at The National Academy, one of the city’s oldest museums, until January 10, 2016.