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Architect of ‘global citizens’ gets Ottawa retrospective – Metro US

Architect of ‘global citizens’ gets Ottawa retrospective

At age 72, Moshe Safdie doesn’t intend to stop the creative juices coursing through his veins.

The internationally renowned architect best known for Habitat, his thesis project-turned-Expo ’67 masterpiece in Montreal, and Ottawa’s National Gallery of Canada is kicking off his retrospective exhibition in the building he designed.

Celebrating his 40-year career, Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie opens to the public Wednesday at the National Gallery of Canada, complete with 35 life-like models, 52 drawings, and more than a dozen videos. His work spans three continents, including 12 major projects in Canada such as Habitat in Montreal, the Vancouver Public Library, and Terminal 1 at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

Safdie admits, though, that he got very lucky at a fairly young age.

“At 25, I had my own practice, building Habitat – not typical. Usually before you’re 35 or 40, you don’t get a break, particularly if you want to be an independent architect,” said Safdie.

“I think his buildings themselves are global citizens at the world stage,” said exhibit curator, Donald Albrecht, an architect by trade who is now a curator at New York Museum.

The exhibition will be open until Jan. 9, 2011.