Yona Friedman. The Dilution of Architecture

Yona Friedman is recognised as one of the most eminent proponents of 1960s avant-garde urbanism. His best-known work is the concept for a Spatial City (“La Ville Spatiale”, 1956), in which he aimed to provide maximum flexibility through “megastructures” over existing cities and other locations. Inhabitants were meant to design their dwellings within these structures. Friedman sought to provide people in every part of the world with the knowledge and fundamental structures to determine their own environment for living and to enhance their independence and self-reliance.

This new book offers a unique collection of brief texts and annotations as well as an abundance of images, sketches, drawings, watercolours etc. by Friedman himself. It also features a vast range of documents related to his work. In part II, Manuel Orazi gives an analysis of Friedman’s oeuvre, based on extensive research. He follows the architect’s progress through disciplinary and geographic areas apparently remote from one another, in which Friedman has been moving erratically and incessantly. Orazi also expands on historical, social and political contexts. A documentation of Friedman’s intellectual relationships and other resources, an interview with Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi about Friedman, and a comprehensive bibliography round out the book.