Photographer captures life in an international Brutalist icon

Photographer James Brittain's upcoming exhibition, Revisited: Habitat 67, presents a series of large-scale photographs documenting Montreal's Habitat 67, a residential complex designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. The complex was built as the Canadian Pavilion for the World Exposition of 1967.

Along with Brittain's contemporary images archival material depicting the original ambitions for Habitat 67 will be displayed. The exhibition provides space to assess the brutalist icon's legacy and ask questions about the representation of architecture and its inhabitation. 

James Brittain speaks on his current work, “I’ve been thinking about layers and traces of life left on architecture over time. I’ve also been considering the way Habitat 67 itself has aged, how it’s used and inhabited, and how both public and private space at the complex has been adapted by the residents. The photographs are also a response to the daily dose of digital imagery of architecture on social media and the web. Mainstream photography of architecture has largely withdrawn from communicating the experience of buildings and spaces, and specific moments spent in places."

This exhibitions marks the relaunch of Building on the Built, a series of shows and talks originally created as part of the Jonathan Tuckey Design retrospective in 2016. The relaunch program aims to promote architectural work connected to existing structures. 

The Building on the Built series will continue in May 2018 with an exhibition and talk by Dublin-based practice Carson and Crushell Architects. Further exhibitions planned for 2018 include work by Fred Scott, author of On Altering Architecture, and Slovenian practice Ambient, who present work undertaken at Ljubljana Castle.