Architect Day: Daniel Libeskind

The architecture of Daniel Libeskind is striking and characteristic. A man with a great life story, a degree in music and professor of architecture at several universities, had his highest recognition on winning the bid for the new World Trade Center in New York. His repertoire of projects, however, clearly shows his work concepts.

Photos from http://www.daniel-libeskind.com

Daniel Libeskind was born in Lodz in Poland after the war, on 12 May 1946. He is the second son to Dora and Nachman Libeskind, survivors of the Holocaust. As a child he learned to play the accordion, and was even on Polish television at 13 years of age. He studied music in Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship.

In 1959, Libeskind's family moved to New York. There Daniel continued to study music becoming a virtuoso. He studied at the Bronx High School of Science and in 1965 became an American citizen. Completing his studies, he graduated in 1970 from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and received his post-graduate degree in 1972 in History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Comparative Studies at Essex University.

Influences

Libeskind worked briefly as an apprentice to Richard Meyer and was hired by Peter Eisenman, but didn't stay long.

He met his future wife and working partner in 1966. After a few years, they married and traveled to the United States, visiting the works of Frank Lloy Wright. After that, Daniel taught at several universities around the world. Since this was his main activity for a long time, he only finalized his first project at age 52, the Felix Nussbaum Haus.

Works

Early on Libeskind was labeled as the architect whose designs were impossible to be built. He won his first competition in 1987, a house in Berlin, but was never built. The Jewish Museum Berlin was the first major project to be built, with greater recognition, but became more famous after winning the tender for the reconstruction of the area of the former World Trade Center, destroyed in the attack of September 11, a project that was named as Memory Foundations.

Studio Daniel Libeskind is two blocks from the WTC site, and has projects in all corners of the world. In addition to building some securities, Daniel also designs stages for theaters and operas, where there is a clear relationship to his architecture.

“Ever since I began architecture, I had an abhorrence to conventional architecture offices. There was something about the atmosphere of redundancy, routine and production that made me allergic to all forms of specialization and so-called professionalism. Ten years ago we founded our office in Berlin as a result of a decision, an accident, a rumor on the street and began an unimaginable journey down a path on which we are still traveling.”

18.36.54, Connecticut, USA

The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge, Kentucky, USA.

Cape Grace, Monaco

Contemporary Jewish Museum, California, USA

Danish Jewish Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark

Dream Hub, Seoul, South Korea

Extension to the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA

Denver Art Museum Residences, Denver, Colorado, USA

Felix Nussbaum Haus, Osnabrück, Germany

Fiera Milano, Milan, Italy

Glass Courtyard, Berlin, Germany

Grand Canal Square Theatre, Dublin, Ireland

Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, England

Jewish Museum Berlin, Berlin, Germany

London Metroplitan University Graduate Centre, London, England

Memorial Foundations, New York, New York, USA

New York Tower, New York, New York, USA

Riverstone, Incheon, South Korea

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada

Studio Weil, Mallorca, Spain

Tangent, Seoul, South Korea

The Villa, Worldwide

Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre, Bern, Switzerland

The Wohl Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel