Yona Friedman - Utopies Réalisables

Yona Friedman + NAO

2007-02-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

NAO is collaborating with Yona Friedman on the installation of his drawings at the Drawing Center in New York. The exhibition is open between February 24 – April 7, 2007.
Here we "stole" some of the drawings, which will be on display there.

Microutopia

2007-02-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

See images from the Microutopia project in the 2A+P website.

Friedman's vision for Corticella

2007-02-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

These are some of the visions developed by Yona Friedman for the competition "Bella Fuori" in Corticella, Bologna.

Yona Friedman: une production pour la collection

2007-02-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

The Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon invited Yona Fiedman to realize a new istallation.

Intervista a Yona Friedman

2007-02-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

a cura di Manuel Orazi

Architetto, urbanista, designer ma anche studioso di sociologia, fisica e scienza delle comunicazioni, Yona Friedman (Budapest, 1923) è tornato al centro della cultura architettonica internazionale dopo essere stato a lungo liquidato come utopista.
Membro della resistenza antinazista ungherese, Friedman ha trascorso alcuni anni a Haifa, in Israele, dove ha abbozzato la prima delle sue molteplici teorie, vale a dire il Manifesto dell’architettura mobile in cui speciali sistemi di costruzione permettono all’abitante di determinare da sé la forma, lo stile etc. del suo appartamento e di cambiarlo quando lo desidera.
Le sue proposte si distinguono perché indicano con chiarezza anche la forma sociale e politica più idonea da assumere affinché siano fattibili, come nella rivoluzionaria Continent City in cui l’Europa è vista come un gigantesco sistema di città-stato. Friedman ha conosciuto un’apprezzabile notorietà a partire dal suo trasferimento nel 1957 a Parigi, per poi cadere in disgrazia a causa del prevalere di ideologie architettoniche autoreferenziali come il neorazionalismo o effimere come il postmoderno.
Quasi di colpo la sua Ville spatiale, una struttura tridimensionale sollevata da terra organizzata secondo il principio della flessibilità e dell’autoregolazione degli abitanti, sembra oggi una soluzione praticabile. Solo quest’anno, grazie anche alla rivalutazione portata avanti da architetti e critici di fama quali Bernard Tschumi, Stefano Boeri e Hans Ulrich Obrist, Friedman si appresta a inaugurare alcune mostre in diversi paesi europei a cominciare dalla prestigiosa Serpentine Gallery di Londra.

Come spiega il favore che le sue idee incontrano oggi dopo essere state rimosse per alcuni decenni?

“Il problema credo consista nella lettura superficiale che ne è stata fatta nei primi anni ’60. Sono stati cioè trascurati tutti gli aspetti politici, sociali e comunicativi che vi erano implicati. Ho scritto libri come L’architettura mobile e Utopie realizzabili proprio per articolare compiutamente le mie teorie. Grazie allo sviluppo della tecnologia quelle proposte sono sempre più facili da realizzare e l’unica utopia da risolvere resta la raccolta del denaro necessario, ma questo è un problema per qualunque progetto di architettura”.

Qual è il principio fondamentale su cui si basano le sue proposte?

“La centralità degli abitanti e l’uso degli edifici. Sono meno interessato agli architetti, me compreso: gli architetti e gli urbanisti oggi non sono più degli artisti o ‘quelli che prendono le decisioni’, ma solo dei pubblici servitori; gli abitanti non devono essere considerati solo come dei consumatori, ma come dei professionisti altamente specializzati ed esperti in materia di habitat, e di conseguenza devono essere coinvolti nella determinazione di ogni progetto. La realtà dipende sempre dall’immaginazione delle persone”.

Come vive allora la frenetica attenzione dei media per gli architetti?

“Gli architetti sentono la comunicazione come necessaria per poter realizzare le proprie idee, ma comunicarle è molto più complicato che fare uno schizzo o un semplice diagramma. In un certo senso tutto è comunicazione, in ogni processo in cui sono implicati più di una persona bisogna porsi il problema di una comunicazione altrimenti si diventa autistici. Però credo che una comunicazione globale sia impossibile e ci si debba quindi rivolgere soltanto a interlocutori già preparati a ricevere il nostro messaggio altrimenti si è fraintesi. In generale non mi pare che gli architetti se ne rendano conto”.

Come reagisce allora quando accomunano le forme di alcuni suoi progetti a quelle di artisti della sua generazione come Constant o ad architetti contemporanei come Rem Koolhaas?

“Se ho avuto la possibilità di essere copiato, bene, questo allora era esattamente ciò che volevo. Ho sempre voluto insegnare a un livello globale, oltre l’università. Se le mie idee sono state imitate 40 anni fa o ancora oggi significa che sono parte di un processo in atto e sono contento di esserne parte. Tutti i miei studi si basano sull’idea di processo, in definitiva è questo il carattere di tutta la mia opera”.

Crede ancora che la Ville spatiale sia l’unica soluzione per i problemi della città del XXI secolo?

“Credo che sia una possibilità e la mia proposta di una città articolata nello spazio sovrastante la città esistente è uno strumento per risolvere problemi di crescente densità laddove questi siano necessari, come nelle megalopoli cinesi dove enormi masse immigrano dalle campagne. Al contrario, in un altro mio progetto urbanistico a grande dimensione che ho chiamato Continent City ho maturato l’idea che per impedire l’esplosione di megalopoli è sufficiente collegare efficientemente tra loro città medie e grandi, un po’ come è avvenuto in Europa nell’800 con il primo sistema ferroviario. Questo ha impedito la formazione di città ingestibili da oltre 10 o 20 milioni di abitanti, e cos’è oggi l’Europa se non una rete di circa 150 città? Una città continente, appunto, che a mio avviso dovrebbe essere una federazione di città piuttosto che di nazioni. In questo senso la Ville spatiale è una risposta ai problemi di oggi mentre Continent City è un passo nel futuro”.

Pubblicata su “L’espresso”, 13 luglio 2006

I was not present

2007-02-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

Con questa semplice frase "I was not present"1 Yona Friedman sintetizza uno tra i principi fondamentali della sua ricerca. Questa frase vuole liberare l'architettura dall'incombente peso della tecnicità e della specialisticità. L’obiettivo di Friedman infatti è quello di ricondurre la produzione artistica al di fuori del campo specialistico nel quale si trova, per metterla in contatto con la vita di ogni giorno e con i bisogni di tutti. "Le strutture irregolari non sono interessanti solo per la richezza formale che creano. Il loro vantaggio principale sta nel modo di costruirle, con un'eccezionale tolleranza dell'imprecisione che le rende accessibili ai costruttori non professionisti, dotati di competenza media e privi di utensili raffinati. Rendere facili le tecniche costruttive può avere importanti conseguenze sociali."2 Questo concetto descrive perfettamente il lavoro che Friedman ha presentato recentemente al Mart di Trento e Rovereto. In occasione della seconda "Giornata del Contemporaneo"3, l’architetto franco-ungherese ha presentato nel museo due suoi lavori Merzstrukturen e Nonument.
Il progetto, curato da Maurizio Bortolotti, prevedeva un piccolo processo, la realizzazione di due istallazioni nel Foyer della Biblioteca del Mart, senza un vero e proprio progetto ma semplicemente con delle indicazioni. Friedman descrive così l'operazione: "L'architettura ed il design generalmente ci obbligano a lavori molto precisi mentre il mio interesse è nel permettere l'imprecisione e al tempo stesso l'oggetto deve essere solido ed è questa imprecisione che permette di improvvisare. Il lavoro che presento qui permette l'assenza di progetto e piante tipici dell'architettura ed è un metodo che si spiega in modo molto semplice. Questa specie di fumetto descrive in che modo farlo come una ricetta di cucina."4 Per realizzare queste due istallazioni il Mart ha pubblicato un'inserzione nelle facoltà di Architettura, Design e Istituto delle Belle Arti, con lo scopo di arruolare 6 studenti. I requisiti richiesti erano: la maggiore età, buone motivazioni, conoscenza del lavoro di Yona Friedman e una abilità nel lavoro manuale, visto che le opere sarebbero state realizzate con cartone, colla e nastro adesivo. Il gruppo di giovani studenti, con l'aiuto del curatore, e la supervisione a distanza di Friedman, è infatti il vero autore di queste fantastiche opere. Questa operazione è a tutti gli effetti un pilota del metodo di creazione di Friedman, che dimostra l'effettivo valore di questo processo progettuale e costruttivo. "Merzstrukturen, costruita con materiali poveri, cartone da imballaggio, colla, nastro adesivo è un semplice riparo, sviluppato secondo un principio di casualità a partire dai principi costruttivi elementari che si trovano nelle 'bidonville' dei Paesi del Terzo mondo, alle cui forme abitative Friedman ha dedicato particolare attenzione nel corso degli anni. [...] Nonument, una grande installazione ambientale pensata e realizzata per il Mart è costituita da elementi modulari in cartone, assemblati in forme ondulate disposte le une sulle altre a costituire una struttura libera in forma piramidale."5 Non essere presenti infatti significa per Friedman che chiunque puo costruire e dare forma alle sue idee, e per questo debbono necessariamente essere semplici e facili da comunicare. Le due strutture realizzate seguono perfettamente il pensiero fridmaniano, rendere l'architettura libera, alla portata di tutti dove l'architetto è semplicemente un consulente a disposizione degli abitanti di una città.

Note:
1 Si puo consultare sul sito web YouTube la video-intervista di Yona Friedman.
2 La "Giornata del Contemporaneo" giunta questo anno alla seconda edizione è una iniziativa promossa da AMACI – Associazione dei Musei d’Arte Contemporanea Italiani, che intende coinvolgere e sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica sul ruolo dell’arte contemporanea.
3 Yona Friedman, Basic&Irregular, in «Domus» n. 893, giugno 2006.
4 Dalla stessa vieo-intervista.
5 Dalla cartella stampa della manifestazione.

Testo di Matteo Costanzo apparcso su "Metamorfosi" n. 64, gennaio-febbraio 2007

The cloud.

2007-01-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

See larger image
Our project is ready, we hope that Yona's cloud will be built in Bologna.

NAI

2006-12-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

The first survey of Friedman's work and research was presented as an exhibition at NAI in Rotterdam in May 1999. There was also an accompanying catalogue, published by NAI Publishers.

MART

2006-12-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

In the MART museum, in Rovereto and Trento, Yona Friedman just had an exhibition, where two sculptures/structures/installations were presented. One called Nonument (right) and one called Merzstrukturen (left).

Actar

2006-12-04T04:05:00.000-08:00

Friedman just published a new book with the Catalan publisher Actar.
'Pro Domo' is "a collection of fragments of scattered topics," a set of "milestones" selected by the author himself. In his words, these highlights are not meant as a testament nor do they, “form a coherent whole”. Instead, they form a personal selection chosen “according to their sentimental value” and span fifty-year period of production dating from the foundation of GEAM. The book includes building structure studies, urban design theories, observations on regional development, as well as design manuals for self-construction and competition projects.

Do it

2006-12-04T03:56:00.000-08:00

Yona Friedman participated to the Do-it project, a serie of manuals and exhibitions, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, where artists offer instructions to realise their work.
This is his proposal from 2002.

To build a city

1 Draw any regular or irregular contour line showing the floor plan of the home you desire (not necessary to indicate partition walls)

2 The scale of the drawing should be 1 cm = 1 m

3 send us back by e-mail or fax your drawing

4 all the drawings sent back will be displayed together within a grid (an "infrastructure") of 10 cm / 10 cm mesh model

5 the collection of all drawings (floor-plans) sent back will be pasted onto the grid: the whole collection will represent the urban plan of "Utopia - City"

6 Do not forget to inscribe your name into your plan.

Paris, 18.4.02

Utopie Realizzabili

2006-12-04T03:36:00.000-08:00

Several Italian authors have been writing recently on Yona Friedman works and books.
"Utopie Realizzabili" review.
"Utopie Realizzabili" debate.

1:1 model - some experiment

2006-12-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

This is our first experiment of a 1:1 model. Since size matters...

Meeting with Yona (Part Two)

2006-11-29T03:42:00.000-08:00

The amazing works of Yona

The second round in Paris

2006-11-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

We said we went a couple of times visiting Yona, even though we reported about the first meeting, we didn’t really say much about what happened during the second one. Quite hectic, interesting and fun.

We started preparing the meeting a couple of days before actually leaving Italy. We then went to Paris, prepared, excited and all hyped up, thinking that we would have met the master, spread our papers and drawings all over and that he would have been involved in the typical brainstorming-design session.
So, we reached his place thinking we would have updated him on what done up to then, and then continued from there on with him.
Yona, on the other hand, listened to everything we said for then twisting our starting point. He pushed us to experiment ourselves his design approach. We wanted him to be the conceptual engine of our work, starting from our analysis. He pushed us to learn his method and then come up ourselves with concepts for the square.
‘Ookeey, here is the iron wire, I think you can do some experimentations now’

But before that we had nice, long chats on various topics, from autoconstruction to uncopyrighted architecture, typical tea-cup conversations.

His house is incredibly fascinating, with very much sculptures, drawings, carpets, models spread all over. Doesn’t look like a museum at all though, it is rather very cozy, warm and chaotic. Beautiful and immediately familiar.

Yona and ourselves spent quite some time in chatting about the value of participation and autoconstruction in architecture, being this some of the most important aspects of yona’s work as well as of the competition we are participating in. Autoconstruction for Yona means give to the people freedom of improvisation and of construction with whatever material they have. Main focus becomes then transmitting knowledge to people for them to be able to construct themselves their own cities, public spaces and houses.
This means a different approach for the architect, designer or artist, that has to be designing techniques and processes then, rather than buildings. Very cheap and easy techniques that people can do themselves, following instructions firstly to then move away and improvise.
So, for instance, practically, would mean designing visualizations of possible buildings or actions sequences and instructions rather than designing the building itself.

A do-it-yourself architecture like this would mean an author less architecture. Regarding this issue Yona could not stand in a clearer position:

‘I think that it’s a misunderstanding of architecture…let’s take Gehri for example, he makes an artwork and it has to be done like that, and this is an error. Great architecture generally has come by masons who were not inventing the arc at all. The interesting aspect about arc and domes is that they became generalized and used by people. There is no patent that goes with this things.’
‘so, you can see them as techniques…’
‘yes, you can see them both as techniques and social interventions’ ‘I think Le Corbusier’s importance was far less his own buildings, but more the other people who was following him and produced things. There is no other way to do it. Architecture it’s not patents.’.

‘twenty years ago, when I was talking about this things, I was told I am an utopian. And now it’s credible’ I think now somehow public opinion accepts this things that they did not accepted 20 years ago’

Back in the street, we headed to the Palais De Tokyo (http://…). The palais was hosting an exhibit, but the ground floor has a space available for people for working, with all sorts of services.
We put our heads down and started sketching, drafting renderings but mostly doing and re-doing models, with various materials, bought and recovered…a flower seller even gifted to us a net he used to dress his shop window, but that would have nicely served the purpose for our model.

Back to Yona again then, with all our models: some were ‘cloudy’, some other geometrical.
Yona’s reaction was very gratifying. Apart the comments and the exchange of suggestions and advices, was truly nice to have Yona asking us ‘can I take a photo of these models?’.
I was almost asking back ‘can I take a photo of you taking a photo of our models?’

Then the comments session.

‘It is important to close the nodes in the bottom (for giving rigidity)’
‘not all these loops should be the same’
‘but yours is so beautiful’
‘I try never to go in the same direction with loops…it’s also very important how you tight the loops (and shows how to tight a node)’
‘did you also use any instruments to bend the wire?’
‘just with my hands, up to 6mm you can bend it with your hands’

(All the models both ours and his, are on yona’s table, and yona takes snaps)

‘in reality it is a different thing, in a different scale will not be the same thing, it will give a different feeling’

‘do you want to make a model with us using the computer?We could also do a 3Dscan of some of your models to replicate it with the computer, what do you think about it?’

‘The real model follows rules that are easy to put on the computer. Mathematically speaking, a computer is listening a shape, making it smoother and smoother, and this smoothening doesn’t exist in reality.’

‘Advices for next steps then?’

‘I would do one step further, you will get a few people from the town and you will make it with them. My experience in participation tells me that every person has is own interpretation’ clearly hints Yona.’

Last step of this working session was to interview him. The interview transcript will be posted soon.

Working session over and back in a smoky bar again, discussing and debriefing among us.

Parallely, we have thought of involving Ove Arup (http://…) for technical consultancies. The story basically sounded like: ‘hey we are working with Yona Friedman, and actually we would love to realize one of his never-realized-almost-unrealizable structures…in a square…in bologna…the periphery’ ‘cool, sounds nice and challenging’.

Pictures of the models (part two)

2006-11-28T07:55:00.000-08:00

Models made once back to Milan

The conceptual and the 1:50 scale models...

Pictures of the models (part one)

2006-11-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

First models made in Paris

Chien

2006-11-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

Probably the most intruiguing book of Yona, seems to be this one. The following is the description from its French publisher.

Yona Friedman
Vous avez un chien.
C'est lui qui vous a choisi(e)

Vous avez un chien se présente sous la forme d’une bande dessinée qui met en scène un/e chien/ne et son/sa maître/sse. C’est un manuel d’éducation pour tous ceux qui vivent avec des animaux domestiques ou d’autres êtres vivants. Ecrit par Balkis Berger-Dobermann, qui partage la vie des Friedman depuis plus de douze ans, Vous avez un chien aurait pu s’intituler « Comment dresser ses maîtres», mais l’auteur a préféré s’en tenir à un titre plus « général » et moins « anthropomorphe ».

Vous avez un chien est aussi un livre pour ceux qui ont des chats, des canaris, des poissons rouges. Il énonce selon des principes simples «comment vivre avec les autres, sans être maître, ni esclave» pour reprendre le titre d’un autre ouvrage de Friedman.

Bibliography

2006-11-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

These are the books of Yona Friedman that are actually collected at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, in Paris.

Alternatives énergétiques ou la civilisation paysanne modernisée [Texte imprimé] : pour une réelle économie des ressources, comment désindustrialiser l'énergie / Yona Friedman. - Saint-Jean-de-Braye : Dangles, 1982.. - 147 p.. - (Écologie et survie, ISSN 0754-2526).
ISBN 2-7033-0247-9

L'Architecture de survie [Texte imprimé] : où s'invente aujourd'hui le monde de demain / par Yona Friedman ; préface de Michel Ragon. - [Paris] : Casterman, 1978 (impr. en Belgique). - 171 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. - (Collection Synthèses contemporaines).
ISBN 2-203-23161-0 (Br.)

L'Architecture mobile [Texte imprimé], vers une cité conçue par ses habitants, par Yona Friedman. - [Paris] ; [Tournai] : Casterman, 1970. - 18 cm, 160 p., ill. 9 F.

Comment vivre entre les autres sans être chef et sans être esclave [Texte imprimé] / Yona Friedman. - [Paris] : J.-J. Pauvert, 1974 (86-Poitiers : impr. Aubin). - 91 p. : ill., couv.ill. ; 20 cm.
ISBN 2-7202-0019-0 (Br.) : 24,50 F

Community participation in the construction of educational buildings [Texte imprimé] / Unesco, Division of educational policy and planning ; by Yona Friedman. - Paris : Unesco, cop. 1984. - 62 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. - (Documents, studies. S / Unesco ; 105) (ED / Unesco ; 84. WS ; 35).

Pour une architecture scientifique [Texte imprimé]. - Paris : P. Belfond, 1971. - 21 cm, 212 p., ill., couv. ill. 26 F.

Théorie et images [Texte imprimé] / Yona Friedman. - Paris : Institut français d'architecture, 2000 (14-Condé-sur-Noireau : Impr. Corlet). - Non paginé [128] p. : tout en ill., couv. ill. ; 21 cm.
ISBN 2-904448-52-7 (br.) : 70 F

The "trompe l'oeil" universe [Texte imprimé]. - Kitakyushu : Center for contemporary art, 2002. - Non paginé : ill. en coul., couv. ill. en coul. ; 21 cm. - (CCA artists' book series).
ISBN 4-901387-60-X (br.)

L'univers erratique [Texte imprimé] : et si les lois de la nature ne suivaient aucune loi ? / Yona Friedman ; préf. de Dominique Lecourt. - Paris : Presses universitaires de France, 1994 (41-Vendôme : Impr. des PUF). - XV-185 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. - (Science, histoire et société).
ISBN 2-13-046215-4 (br.) : 142 F

Utopies réalisables [Texte imprimé] / par Yona Friedman. - Paris : Union générale d'éditions, 1976 (59-La Chapelle-d'Armentières : Impr. Danel-S.C.I.A.). - 310 p. : ill., couv. ill. ; 18 cm. - (10-18 ; 997. Série 7).

Vous avez un chien [Texte imprimé] : c'est lui qui vous a choisi(e) / Yona Friedman & Balkis Berger-Dobermann. - Paris : Éd. de l'Eclat, 2004 (46-Cahors : Impr. France Quercy). - 93 p. : ill., couv. ill. ; 18 cm.
ISBN 2-84162-085-9 (br.) : 10 EUR

HUO 2

2006-11-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

While looking for a link to the Serpentine gallery website, we found this project, dis-assembly, where artists Faisal Abdu’Allah, Christian Boltanski, Runa Islam and architect Yona Friedman were invited to create collaborative work in North Westminster Community School, London, one of Britain’s largest inner-city secondary schools.

The "trompe l'oeil" universe.

2006-11-16T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is the cover of the second book on Yona Friedman published by CCA that we are seeking for...

Cities (7)

2006-11-16T04:13:00.000-08:00

Cities (6)

2006-11-16T04:09:00.000-08:00

Cities (5)

2006-11-16T04:07:00.000-08:00

cities (4)

2006-11-16T04:05:00.000-08:00

Cities (3)

2006-11-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Cities (2)

2006-11-16T03:58:00.000-08:00

Cities (1)

2006-11-16T03:52:00.000-08:00

Another interesting book we found is this one, edited by CCA (Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu).

The book is a collection of incredibly beautiful collage, drawings, renderings made by Yona along the years. CCA also published another book, "The "trompe l'oeil" universe": we have it somewhere, we just need to find it in our shelves (which are somehow friedmanesques).

Drawing and montages from the collection of Yona Friedman

---

The introduction (hand-written) says:

We all know
how cities are

they can eventually,
become different

Per una architettura scientifica (2)

2006-11-16T03:44:00.000-08:00

Here some images taken from chapter 3 (New activities of the architect and the town-planner"

Per una architettura scientifica

2006-11-16T03:26:00.000-08:00

Ok.
The link with the old man was set.
He is cool and willing to cooperate on some project.

Now, we wanted to know more.

First, thanks to fabrizio we found some interesting books.
Since these books are almost impossible to find, here we give you some taste of them.

For further info, please email to: f.gallanti@interactiondesign-lab.com

This first one is: "Per una architettura scientifica", edited by Rosario Giuffre', Officina Edizioni, Roma, 1971

HUO

2006-11-10T00:35:00.000-08:00

Who is HUO?

Hans Ulrich Obrist.

A friend of ours, very active curator, thinker, organizer.
Why do we make a post on him?
Well, because we have to thank him, otherwise this project (as well as this blog) would not exist...

Because in the previous story we forgot to mention how we got in touch with mr. Yona.

Once we decided we wanted to know him, still we didn't know how to contact him.

Thanks to kind Hans Ulrich, we had the link. Yona was pleased to talk to soeone who was given by Hans Ulrich his phone.

----

Who is Hans Ulrich?

He is a writer
He is a curator/organizer

He is many other thousand persons but this is enough to start. Now Hans Ulrich is at the Serpentine Gallery in London.

----

Relevant to our story is to know that also Yona Friedman was involved in Hans Ulrich "do-it" project (see the link above).

This was the contribution by Yona;

YONA FRIEDMAN [ F-002A ]

To build a city -- 2002

Draw any regular or irregular contour line showing the floor plan of the home you desire (not necessary to indicate partition walls)

The scale of the drawing should be 1 cm = 1 m

send us back by e-mail or fax your drawing

all the drawings sent back will be displayed together within a grid (an "infrastructure") of 10 cm / 10 cm mesh model

the collection of all drawings (floor-plans) sent back will be pasted onto the grid: the whole collection will represent the urban plan of "Utopia - City"

Do not forget to inscribe your name into your plan.

Paris, 18.4.02 |

A competition in Bologna (part 2)

2006-11-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

Some info for the curious ones...

The competition is organized by this Fondazione del Monte (a bank). Very active in all kind of cultural activities in the cities of Bologna and Ravenna.

Since the bankers don't too well how to organize architecture competitions, they hired this group called "Avventura Urbana" (well-know group of architects/designers active in participatory processes) to run the whole thing.

Link to Fondazione del Monte

Link to Avventura Urbana

A competition in Bologna

2006-11-10T00:18:00.000-08:00

Well.

Mr. Yona is a genius and we knew.
He is also kind and available to collaboration and different activities (this we didn't know).

So, we found a small competition in Bologna (Italy).

To re-think a square in a peripherical suburb. Involving local people, eventually developing and trying to build one of the spatial concept of mr. Yona.

Here the link to the competition. If you are curious you can read more about it

2006-11-10T00:03:00.000-08:00

During this first meeting we intervied him.
A quite long interview...

After a phone call, we meet Mr. Friedman in his home. Everywhere there are wonderful things: sketches, drawings, books, rugs, philosophical opinions on the universe, wood blocks to make movies, toys from India.

The first simple truth: "We cannot understand the universe"

The second simple truth: "We do not need to understand the universe"

The chat oscillates from English to French with lapses into Italian. Mr. Friedman's assistant sits quietly on the rug.

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Q. Mr. Friedman, there are some projects and ideas of yours that everybody knows: the flexible city that could be built in the sky and your passion for all kind of structures, grids and processes.
This time, though, we would like to ask you about a very specific project of yours, the "Flatwriter"...

A. Well, in the late '60s, I was doing a project called the "Flatwriter". It was simply an adaptation of the IBM Selectric typewriter, you know the one that carries the characters in relief on a ball that looks like a golf ball...

Instead of letters, we have these very simple symbols, and you can type down a floor plan. Of course, you need a special keyboard as well. This was supposed to be presented at the Osaka world fair, then there was some hitch on the organization side and it did not go through.

Q. Reading from the original text we find: Thanks to a machine that I call the Flatwriter, each inhabitant of a city can imprint his personal preferences with respect to his apartment (flat) to be, using symbols which put in visual form the different elements of his decision so that the builder as well as his neighbours can understand what his choice is.

In other words this machine contains a reportoire of several million possible plans for apartments, knows how to work out instructions about the characteristic consequences of the way each future inhabitants will risk upsetting the other inhabitants...

A. Yes. Exactly. But I want to say that this same operation I can do with a computer, with a typewriter or simply using stamps. This kind of thing is still possible and it is a very useful tool for participatory designs, regardless of the specific technological support.

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You can read the rest of the interview on: id-cast

Meeting with Yona

2006-11-09T02:35:00.000-08:00

Finally we went to Paris to meet mr. Friedman.
There were Walter and Stefi, it was mid-summer...

Spatial City (part 9, i forgot one image)

2006-11-08T03:45:00.000-08:00

here the missing one...

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finally, the relevant links to see the complete collections are:

Le Monde article

FRAC

Spatial City (part 9)

2006-11-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

Here is the process of growth...

Spatial City (part 8)

2006-11-08T02:46:00.000-08:00

Here we go with a different view, a representation made out of a collage...

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By the way.
You might find interesting to know that all this stuff (plus much much more) is kept at FRAC.
What is FRAC? It is a very nice and interesting French institution, they collect all kind of things where architecture and art meets. It is in Orleans and it is surely worth a visit.

For the time being you can go to see their website...

FRAC website

Spatial City (part 7)

2006-11-08T02:44:00.000-08:00

Because, we have to admit that we are very fond of mazes and compex structures (built out of very simple rules).
Same principle as John Cage, Brian Eno, generative music...

Spatial City (part 6)

2006-11-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

Here you see the horizontal structure of the Spatial City.
Very simple concept with a very complex result...

Spatial City (part 5)

2006-11-08T02:38:00.000-08:00

We continue to show you all different ideas about this spatial city.
This one is peculiar for its "flying carpets"...

Spatial City (part 4)

2006-11-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

Mr. Yona, when it is about conceptual models, he is a true master...
He made so many of them, all so beautiful...

Spatial City (part 3)

2006-11-08T02:27:00.000-08:00

What about this other incredible model? Aren't you in love?

We were...

Spatial City (part 2)

2006-11-08T02:21:00.000-08:00

Here some other images of these different concepts for the spatial city (these are from 1959/60).

If you want to see the whole collection

Spatial City (part 1)

2006-11-08T01:56:00.000-08:00

This article on Le Monde (see previous post) had 24 incredibly beautiful images.

Here you can see another version of the "Spatial city"

:o

:o

:o

Once we found this article on Le Monde...

2006-11-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

One day we were browsing the web and we found a very interesting article on Le Monde on-line.

There were all kind of delicious concepts and ideas. We were mesmerized...

This image for instance is about the "Spatial City", 1959.

If you want to read that article that started the whole story, here you go...

A project with Yona Friedman

2006-11-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

This blog is a special blog. It has a clear start and a clear end.

It reports about a project we are doing with Yona Friedman, one of the most important architects of the whole XXth century.
Before to go on, it could be useful to specify who are we and what we do.

Who is:

- 2A+P a group of architects from Rome
- Id-lab, a strange group of designers and technologists working in Milan:
- Lisa Parola from a.titolo (a group of people working in contemporary art field):

And Yona?

Well, this is what is this blog about...