Moshe Safdie, a Somerville-based architect, was awarded the 2019 Wolf Prize for Architecture. Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin, president of Israel, announced the news Wednesday.
The Wolf Foundation cited Safdie’s substantial career, which was “motivated by the social concerns of architecture and formal
experimentation,” according to a release. It specified his Habitat
’67 project, a breakthrough project in Montreal that helped influence modern housing design and
urban planning.
Safdie — a citizen of Israel, Canada, and the United States — works out of Somerville’s Safdie Architects.
Wolf Prizes are also awarded in the fields of medicine, agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, music, and painting and sculpting. Past recipients include Stephen Hawking, Laurie Anderson, and Shinya Yamanaka.
The laureates will be officially presented at a ceremony in Jerusalem in May.