The proposed design for the headquarters of Converse Network Systems at Ra'anana, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, included offices and manufacturing facilities for 6,000 employees along with 4,000 underground parking spaces. The complex was to consist of eight office pavilions flanking a glazed community "street". The office buildings -- four and five stories high -- were to be set atop a floor devoted to manufacturing and services, with four underground parking levels below it. The linear office structures were to be set 32 meters apart, containing a series of thematic gardens with gardens, water features and recreational spaces. The largest of the gardens was to contain dining terraces and a health club opening to an outdoor swimming pool.
The Colegio Hebreo School Complex is a coeducational school providing facilities for 2,100 students, from kindergarten through preparatory levels. The program called for classrooms for each level of schooling, offices, administrative and service areas, a cafeteria, a library, and an indoor facility. It was requested that each classroom have an outdoor area which allowed for both indoor and outdoor teaching. A network of covered arcades led from the main courtyard to secondary courtyards for each of the three academic levels. Classrooms were terraced to form roof gardens for the rooms below, also affording many rooms with views of the surrounding landscape.
The city of Giza was a theoretical study for a high-density city, amidst the existing ancient pyramids, which could accommodate the resettlement of 250,000 Palestinian refugees. Giza illustrated a number of concepts which Moshe Safdie had been exploring prior to Habitat '67 such as workable high-density environments, three-dimensional reorganization of urban land uses, the organization of individual dwellings as spatial groupings, the hierarchical organization of transportation networks, and the utilization of mass-production construction techniques.
Cité des Iles was a study proposed to the City of Montreal by Moshe Safdie following the close of Expo '67. The overall idea behind the study was to transform the temporary Expo exhibition site including structures, parks, and transit lines into permanent amenities for the city. The study was well received by many city officials, but did not proceed because of anticipated review complications between the various levels of provincial, federal, and municipal agencies.
This project consists of 267 units of housing designed to be occupied by moderate income, permanent residents who are employed in the Aspen area. The three-story structures utilize prefabricated modular wooden units, completed off-site, to reduce on-site construction time which is limited due to weather conditions. The buildings are clustered around open spaces and have glass enclosed terraces which overlook panoramic views of the resort community of Aspen and Aspen Mountain. The units are entered from parking areas at the rear of the complex. The project was realized during the 1984 construction season.
Moshe Safdie's proposal was among 208 entries for the architectural competition for the Canadian Government Pavilion at the 1970 Japan World Exposition in Osaka. Safdie explored two radically different concepts. The first used a group of balloon-like elements inflated with a light gas. The second scheme, which was developed in greater detail, called for a cellular building made from modular units constructed of cubes subtended by octahedrons. The entire pavilion was to be a continuous experience of changing images and colours in which various surfaces within the cube and the octahedron were used as projection surfaces.
The vision for the project was to create a distinctive, architecturally exceptional museum that will help to eliminate intolerance through recognition of human rights as the foundation for human equality, dignity, and freedom worldwide. The museum has made groundbreaking history, as it will be the largest and perhaps only human rights museum in the world. The issue of human rights is of such a worldwide concern that the decision was made to conduct an international architectural competition to select an architect and design for this important project. Ultimately, the competition was won by Dan Hanganu Architects and The Arcop Group.
Located on a triangular parcel, Cambridge Center was designed as a mixed-use development project in a area known as Kendall Square. Safdie's master plan called for several mid- and high-rise office and research buildings, a 25-storey hotel, and a street-level retail centre. The hotel encloses Cambridge Plaza and is the primary public focal point of the complex. The plaza paving and features were designed by world-renowned artist Karl Schlamminger of Germany.
Alston and Elivor Callahan owned a piece of property atop Red Mountain overlooking Birmingham, Alabama. The Callahans requested a house that would give them the sense of living in a control tower, similar to the one at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, to overlook the city. Safdie's proposal comprised of a series of intersected cubes rotated at 45 degrees with the horizontal. The unique geometry with an elongated rectangular plan suited this unusual site. The design approach resulted in an extroverted yet transparent building that commands its surroundings.
