answers from yona friedman

Yona Friedman
FX 00 331 4734 6911

2.03.10

Dear Marjetica,
here are the answers to the questions:

1. Water: cities, in the past, got their water often by aqueducts (that is the case, for
example, in modern Paris).

2. Floating suburbs on the laguna might be an alternative solution to create residences for
the Venetians. Another one could be the “Venice spatiale” I worked on earlier.
Both of these solutions leave the water surface intact.

3. I think that an extension (Ville Spatiale) above the Ponte della Libertà would be a better
link for the mainland (Mestre) and serves as well as an extension (residence and
commerce) to Venice. I call the project a “Champs Elysee for Venice”. At the Galleria
Massimo Minini in Brescia there are the drawings and the model of this project.

4. Water again: if there is no sufficient water for irrigation fields in the Laguna, it is always
possible to produce crops which need less water. (There exists food productions in arid
and semiarid countries, even with less water Venice is far from being “dry”)

5.Tourism is an industry, and many Venetians live by it. If there can be created more
residential spaces for people working in Venice (as mentioned in all the projects above)
the disproportion of tourists versus inhabitants would be reduced. I think to understand
that commuter population (working in Venice) is larger than the number of resident. It could
be a solution to make these commuters into real residents.
This is a short note for your questions. I wrote it down in a haste, but I hope it can be
useful. With lots greetings

YF