Julie Kolaga
Art309/509
Final Essay
Greene
Yona Friedman
Yona Friedman is an urban planner, theorist and utopian architect (1). All of his drawings, collages, writings and designs were created in response to urban living in the post-industrial era. “Friedman’s ideas led him to go beyond architecture. His sphere of engagement broadened to include sociology, economics, mathematics, information science, planning, visual art and film-making” (2). He brought his ideas to life by using simple and mobile materials like paper, packaging supplies, boxes and wire. Friedman is interested in developing flexibility within existing cities by freeing up as much ground space as possible (3). His unconventional thinking to object making and utopian ideas regarding providing residents maximum flexibility are two distinct characteristics that set him apart from mainstream architects.
Yona Friedman was born in Budapest in 1923. Years later, he attended a school called the Faculty of Architecture but did not get a degree because of the anti-Semitic laws of that time. At the faculty of Architecture he was extremely influenced by scientific positivism (4). As defined in The Random House College Dictionary, “positivism is the state or quality of being positive or a philosophical system concerned with positive facts and phenomena and excluding speculation upon ultimate causes or origins (5).” The influence of scientific positivism is later seen as a steady theme throughout all of his work. In 1944, in response to the Nazi occupation in Hungary, Friedman joined a Zionist group. Although he was eventually arrested and thrown in prison, he managed to escape deportation to the Auschwitz-Bikenau death camp (6). After Budapest was liberated in 1945, Friedman decided to leave and ended up staying in Romania as a refugee. “There he began to reflect on an architecture of survival, drafting his first designs for buildings assembled out of cheap and waste materials, as well as on migration as a form of civil protest and on the concept of the critical group that he was to develop many years later in Utopies realisables” (6) Ibid. He eventually ended up in Paris and in 1958, made his first model constructed out of boxes. Friedman writes, “It shows a skeleton and boxes in it representing homes. This space is a space-frame structure with particular advantages, and I am using the voids of this space-frame structure to insert usable spaces. The apartment, the living space, is inserted in this skeleton…This permits the old usable spaces to be lifted above ground level, and ground level stays free (7).”
Friedman is unlike any other architect in more ways than one. His effort in creating mobile and flexible buildings for the inhabitants to make their own is apparent in every design but some are more obvious than others. The piece, Space City (Yona Friedman, 1959-1963) is a great example of the space that Friedman was trying to create. In this piece he had a very loose sense of perspective. The ground is completely clear of any buildings and is only occupied by a few structural elements like stairs and beam supports. The beams support a number of white a blue boxes that vary in height and size. Some of the boxes that are located in the center of the composition look like they are floating. Friedman has also sketched in a few members of the community. The faceless stick figures range in distance but they all seem to occupy the same open space. Space City was created from 1959 to 1963 and is just one of his many mobile city designs.
Another great example of a work that best exemplifies Yona Friedman’s vision is titled Spatial City (Yona Friedman, 1959-1963). It seems that Spatial City is just one of the many pieces in his Spatial City series. It was a project that he worked on for a number of years. The composition was worked out with a felt tip pen on white tracing paper. Although his design looks to be similar to his Space City piece, the red and blue undertones and the black crescent shapes in the sky are quite different. Friedman used a loose grid on this piece but one can also pick up on some perspective as well. As with Space City the ground space in Spatial City is clear of any obstructions and the white beams are supporting a number of boxes. In this particular piece Friedman has shaded in the underside of the boxes and has added a lot of red and blue coloring. A couple of small, faceless community members are occupying the open spaces, living in a mobile and flexible city.
A utopian thinker, Yona Friedman published Utopies realisalbes in 1974. “Among the numerous theoretical writings published by Friedman-in fields ranging from sociology to physics-there is Utopies realisables (Feasible Utopias, written in 1974), which is perhaps the best compendium of his research. The text is presented as an apparent contradiction in terms, even though “believing in a utopia and being realistic at the same time is not a contradiction. A utopia is, par excellence, feasible,” and becomes so if it wins the support of the community (8).”
Yona Friedman is a very unique utopian architect and theorist. His sketches, drawings, collages and projects all stem from his views on how (and where) people are living and using their living space in the post-industrial era. Although none of his designs were ever fully realized, he has had an overwhelming influence on many people and ideas. “Over the past decades, his creative work has resulted in innumerable drawings, models and structural investigations of his visionary ideas (http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/5224).” His work has been on display at many different biennials including shows in Shanghai and Venice (http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/5224). The constant overlap between unconventional object making, optimism and his inclusion of a particular social element in all of his work separates Yona Friedman from every other architect and artist out there today.
Work Cited
(1) www.e-flux.com/shows/view/5224
(2) Sabine Lebesque, “Yona Friedman,” Structures Serving the Unpredictable. (Netherlands: NAi Publishers) back cover.
(3) Yona Friedman, “Yona Friedman,” Intelligence Starts with Improvisation. CR. 254.
(4) Manuel Orazi, “Yona Friedman,” Yona Friedman Biography and Works. CR. 267.
(5) Stein, Jess. The Random House College Dictionary. New York: Random House Inc, 1975.
(6) Manuel Orazi, “Yona Friedman,” Yona Friedman Biography and Works. CR. 267.
(7) Yona Friedman, “Yona Friedman,” Intelligence Starts with Improvisation. CR. 254.
(8) Manuel Orazi, 268). “Yona Friedman,” Yona Friedman Biography and Works. CR. 268.
