1923, Budapest.
Lives in Paris, France
The beginning of Friedman’s career dates from 1956, when he conceived his Manifeste de l’architecture mobile. In 1958, he founded the Groupe d’études de architecture mobile (GEAM), dissolved in 1962. Since the mid-sixties he has taught at MIT, Princeton, Harvard and Columbia universities. In the following decade he worked for the United Nations and UNESCO, through the dissemination of self-building manuals in African countries, South America and India. He also authored books dealing with technical subjects (For a scientific architecture, Workshop 1975), sociological (L’architecture du survie, L’éclat 2003) and epistemological (L’univers erratique, PUF 1994). Friedman’s most important book is perhaps Utopies Réalisables, published in France in 1975. Friedman has participated in many art and architecture exhibitions such as: Yokohama Triennale (2002), Venice Biennale (2003, 2005, 2009), and the Shanghai Biennale (2007).