Yona Friedman, born in 1923 in Hungary, died in Alaska, US, in 2019.

An influential architect and urban designer, he also works in the fields of sociology, economics, mathematics, philosophy and art; and for many years he has been involved in the issue of housing in the Third World.

He rose to prominence in the early 1960s with his manifesto L'Architecture Mobile (Mobile Architecture) and its elaboration in La Ville Spatiale (the Spatial City). He later developed simple manuals in the form of comic books that enabled people to make decisions about the design of their own living environment. Central themes in Friedman's work are flexibility and individual freedom. He believes that the architect, rather than having an autonomous point of view, should instead be there to serve the users and offer advice on technical and organizational matters.

Friedman's project for Point d1ironie was created in the Spring of 2001. On September 17, he agreed to share with us a few of his 3afterthoughts2 on the World Trade Center attack.

This issue of point d1ironie is part of a series in association with Documenta11.