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M. Paul Friedberg

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For the American Olympic fencer, see Paul Friedberg.
M. Paul Friedberg
Born
Marvin Paul Friedberg[1]

(1931-10-11)October 11, 1931
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 15, 2025(2025-02-15) (aged 93)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materCornell University
OccupationLandscape architect
Spouses
Esther Louise Hidary
​
​
(m. 1962; died 1982)​
[2][3]
  • Dorit Shahar
Children3
AwardsASLA Design Medal (2004)[4]
ASLA Medal (2015)[5]
PracticeM. Paul Friedberg and Partners

M. Paul Friedberg, FASLA (October 11, 1931 – February 15, 2025) was an American landscape architect known for his work on playful public spaces.[6][7]

Life and career

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M. Paul Friedberg was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 11, 1931.[6] During his childhood, his family moved to rural Pennsylvania and then to Middletown, New York, where he attended Middletown High School.[8][9] In 1954 he graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in horticulture.[6] He said that "after navigating four socially active years the reality of growing up set in."[10] He said that his largest influence for pursuing landscape architecture was the chance to connect people to themselves, to each other and to their environment.

In 1958, four years after graduating, Friedberg opened his landscape practice, M. Paul Friedberg and Partners.[11] The contributions the firm has made to the aesthetic environment of urban life have been revolutionary in design and intent. Here, he soon became a leading Landscape Architect of new public spaces. All of which included plazas, main strip malls, and small vest-pocket parks. Paul Friedberg also established the first undergraduate landscape architecture program in a major city at the City College of New York, focusing on the social and physical issues inherent to an urban environment.

In 1965, Friedberg designed an innovative play area at Jacob Riis Plaza that would later be demolished in 2000. This innovative play area was created to allow children of different ages to utilize the many different structures including a series of pyramids, mounds, and a tunnel in many ways.[12]

Friedberg continued his design work until late in life, commenting it is "not a bad way to spend [my] day" and summarizing his philosophy, upon reception of his 2015 ASLA medal, as follows:

Design is a personal journey. The fact that I have the power to alter the appearance and content of a site merely by placing ideas on a piece of paper or a screen, is an ongoing adventure-and exploration into the unknown about how space and form can direct human response. It is about the discovery of myself, my aesthetic preference and social values at a given point in time. I create three-dimensionally what the writer accomplishes with words. It is not without anxiety, as the ideas haven't a reality until cast in a space and experienced.[10]

He was married to the landscape architect Dorit Shahar, and they had a daughter, Maya.[13] He previously had two sons, Mark and Jeffrey, with his first wife, Esther Hidary, who died in 1982.[3][14] He died in New York City on February 15, 2025, at the age of 93.[7][14]

Jacob Riis Plaza

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One of Friedberg's most notable projects was the Jacob Riis Plaza, undertaken in the mid-1960s. The Jacob Riis Complex is a series of 14-story buildings along the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The large open spaces between the blocks were poorly laid out, with little consideration of the residents' needs. Friedberg's redesign separated the space into human scaled areas using pergolas, terraces and mounds. Materials and features were selected for their robustness, for example large timbers, and vandal resistant lighting.

Other major projects

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Published works

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  • Play and Interplay: A Manifesto for New Design in Urban Recreational Environment, with Ellen Perry Berkeley, 1970
  • Handcrafted playgrounds: Designs you can build yourself, 1975
  • Do-It-Yourself Playgrounds, 1976
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References

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  1. ^ "Urban Playscapist" (PDF). Progressive Architecture. August 1966. pp. 70, 72. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  2. ^ "Biography of M. Paul Friedberg, F.A.S.L.A., A.I.P." (PDF). American Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  3. ^ a b "Esther Friedberg". The East Hampton Star. 1982-08-19. Retrieved 2025-02-18 – via NYS Historic Newspapers.
  4. ^ "2004 ASLA Design Medal". American Society of Landscape Architects. Archived from the original on 2004-08-03.
  5. ^ "The ASLA Medal". American Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  6. ^ a b c Muriel, Emanuel, ed. (1980). Contemporary Architects. London: Macmillan. p. 261. ISBN 9781349041848. Retrieved 2025-02-18 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b Birnbaum, Charles A. (2025-02-17). "Remembering M. Paul Friedberg". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  8. ^ Randl, Chad. "M. Paul Friedberg Biography". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  9. ^ The Cornellian. Vol. 86. Cornell University. 1954. p. 334.
  10. ^ a b "TCLF's Fifteenth Annual Silent Auction". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Archived from the original on 2019-07-13. Retrieved 2005-10-26.
  11. ^ Hickman, Matt (2025-02-18). "Tribute: M. Paul Friedberg (1931–2025)". Architectural Record. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  12. ^ "M. Paul Friedberg". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  13. ^ "Dorit Shahar". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  14. ^ a b Holmes, Damian (2025-02-17). "Remembering M. Paul Friedberg 1931-2025". World Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  15. ^ "Loring Greenway". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  16. ^ Ludwig, Ann K. (1999-04-25). "A Higher Level of Child's Play". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
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