Island of Exteriors

According to Robin Ward, Montreal’s buildings are “a fusion of tradition and modernity.” He notes this distinctive blend early in Exploring Montréal before turning to Expo 67. “And there are the spectacular relics of the World’s Fair.”

Even those of us who grew up far from Quebec didn’t escape the pull of Expo 67. It convinced some impressionable young people (like me) to become designers, as it made architecture appear to be a boundlessly creative profession. I’m still enthralled by what remains of the months-long exposition. There’s the American pavilion’s immense geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller and Shoji Sadao, repurposed in 1995 as the Biosphère environment museum. And there’s Moshe Safdie’s still futuristic-looking housing experiment, Habitat 67. Montreal itself was a revelation six decades ago. The city exemplified what urbanity could be, with remarkable public and private projects unfolding in parallel with the fair, which helped recast...