Jonathan Friedman

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Jonathan Friedman was Dean of the School of Architecture and Design at New York Tech from 1992-2000, managing an $11 million annual budget, and supervising 2000 students and staff annually. He managed successful FIDER and NAAB accreditation visits. He set curriculum, managed diverse constituencies, supervised new campus programs, directed exhibitions, publications, competitions, lecture series, and symposia. He worked on developing outreach and exchange programs with the Lakota Sioux in Rosebud SD, and the Sassi Foundation, Matera Italy.

Friedman is currently a tenured Professor of Architecture at New York Tech, where he has taught for over 30 years, and has served as coordinator for Design Fundamentals and Thesis. Before coming to New York Tech he was a visiting professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a tenured professor at the University of Kentucky. He has been a guest critic at Cooper Union, University of Bologna, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Harvard, and elsewhere.

Friedman earned an award at the First Annual AIA Education Honors Program 1988, and won the first Annual Outstanding Teacher Award from the U.K. College of Architecture, 1977. As a registered architect with Kentucky licensure and NCARB certification, his built architectural designs include office spaces in NYC as well as private residences in Kentucky and New Jersey. He has worked in the offices of Richard Meier and Michael Graves among others. He was Senior Consultant for Planning in Nassau County, New York in 2003. He has represented the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) on accreditation visiting teams for NAAB to many professional programs—most recently in 2014-2015 to both campuses of The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin in Spring Green, WI and Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ.

Recent Projects/Research

• IDEA ABOUT SYNAGOGUE: an investigation of possible architectural forms of community, is an ongoing series of theoretical synagogue designs, developed in sequence as one for each letter, is now at Synagogues KAF and LAMED, halfway through the Hebrew Aleph-bet.
• JAZZ AND ARCHITECTURE: The latest development in his research into the relationship between jazz and architecture is exploring jazz improvisation on the piano. Building upon a Berklee College of Music offering by the great modern jazz Vibraphonist Gary Burton, offered through Coursera MOOC, he is currently exploring the relationship of the chord foundational structure of the music relates to the modal scales and variations which open up the possibilities for improvisational solos. This way of developing variations in form has had a direct impact on his architectural design and teaching.
• “EVOLUTION OF A CAMPUS: 250 Years of Princeton University” Originator and co-principal investigator of 4-dimensional interactive model of Princeton University, with Interactive Computer Graphics Lab, 1995
• “HOME FOR GENERATIONS”, Entry in Architect’s Dream House National Competition, Contemporary Arts Center, AIA Cincinnati. Awarded Honorable Mention. 1993
• “EARTHLIGHT LODGE LUNAR NATURAL PARK”, Entry for Space Habitat Design Competition. Sponsored by National Space Society, Washington, DC, Awarded Honorable Mention. Ad Astra, July 1989

Publications

• “Feeling and Knowing at Yad Va Shem” translated as “La Promenade dramatique a Yad Vashem,” le visiteur: revue critique d’architecture No. 19, 2013
• “On Demolishing the American Folk Art Museum (A Museum Expands; Not Everyone is Cheering)” published Letter to the Editor, The New York Times, April 18, 2013
• Home for Generations: Suburban Dwelling for Your Great-Grandchildren, From the Outside In: Sustainable Futures for Global Cities and Suburbs Conference, Hofstra University. 2013
• “Entendre L’espace: Echos dans le jazz,” l’art du jazz, Paris, editions du Felin. 2011
• Creation in Space, Volume 1: Architectonics, Volume 2: Dynamics, Kendall-Hunt 1989 and 1999. Now in 2nd Edition. Used as textbooks in over 60 colleges throughout the US and abroad. Recommended by Center for American Higher Education. Called “superb” by Prairie Avenue Bookshop, part of its Building A Professional Library: A Student Guide.

Honors and Awards

• MacDowell Fellow, Peterborough NH, 1994, 2009
• Three United States Patents: relating to Earth Photo Globe, 1981-1984
• Who’s Who in America, 2003, Who’s Who in American Education, 2006, Who’s Who in Computer Graphics, 1984
• President’s Service Award, New York Institute of Technology, 1997
• Anna M. Rockefeller Foundation Grant, 1992

Courses Taught at New York Tech

• Architectural Design: Arch 101-502 (all levels)
• Architectural History/Theory: ARCH 361 Seminars on Le Corbusier
• Architectural History/Theory: ARCH 162 Architectural History 1500 to present

Contact Info

• friedman@nyit.edu