Denial LIBESKIND

Born in postwar Poland in 1946.

As a youngster he moved with his family to Israel in 1957 and to the United States in 1959.

Studied music in Israel but left music to study architecture.

Professional architectural degree in 1970 from the Cooper Union.

Postgraduate degree in History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Comparative

Studies at Essex University (England) in 1972.

Has taught and lectured at many universities worldwide. He has held such positions as the

Frank O. Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto.

PHYLOSOPHY

Daniel Libeskind believe that architecture has entered nearly an end condition.

Not only that he says that architecture has lost its reputation and the everyday architecture is dead.

He wants to give his works some movement & life & from here he comes to Deconstruction.

He thought the architecture as a connector or linkage of present, past & future. So most of his works

have the reflection of the history (past), says of the time (present) & run to the infinity (future).

His buildings are never just buildings they are metaphors. he says a writer is not interested in writings

he just want to tell a story. so to him architecture is a medium to communicate the beauty of a space,

of life and shadow. he says,” I have a repertoire of forms but I don‟t think about them, I think the

meaning of project.” In his life dislocation, destruction and survival are powerful elements. He

determined to get away from the simplified view of architectures tradition. And his aim was

emotionally to create such a space which is emotionally moved the soul.

PROJECTS . . .

The J

ew

ish M

useum

, B

erlin

Denver

Art

Museum

, D

enver

Gro

und Z

ER

O, N

ew

York

Imp

eria

l W

ar

Mu

se

um

No

rth

Felix

Nussbaum

museum

, G

erm

any

Danis

h J

ew

ish M

useum

, D

enm

ark

The A

scent, C

ovin

gto

n

Roya

l O

nta

rio M

useum

, C

anada

There are four aspects to summaries this four-fold structure: Its first aspect is the invisible, second is the cut-off, third is the

ever-present dimension of the deported and missing Berliners & fourth is Walter Benjamin's urban apocalypse along the

"One Way Street.“

The project is a new architecture for a time marked by an understanding of history, a new understanding of museums, and a

new sense of the relationship between program and architectural space.

Therefore this museum is not only a response to a particular program, but an emblem of hope.

History of the Museum

1893 Founded as the Denver Artists Club.

1932 Moved into first galleries in City and County building and became

Denver Art Museum.

2006 Frederic C. Hamilton building, designed by Daniel Libeskind.

07.10.2006 The new building opened.

APPROCH

"The materials of the building closely relate to the existing context

(local stone) as well as innovative new materials (titanium) which

together will form spaces that connect local Denver tradition to the

21st Century.

"The amazing vitality and growth of Denver -- from its foundation to

the present -- inspires the form of the new museum. Coupled with

the magnificent topography with its breathtaking views of the sky and

the Rocky Mountains, the dialogue between the boldness of

construction and the romanticism of the landscape creates a unique

place in the world. The bold and forward looking engagement of the

public in forging its own cultural, urban and spirited destiny is

something that would strike anyone upon touching the soil of

Colorado.

"One of the challenges of building the Denver Art Museum was to

work closely and respond to the extraordinary range of

transformations in light, coloration, atmospheric effects, temperature

and weather conditions unique to this City. I insisted these be

integrated not only functionally and physically, but culturally and

experientially for the benefit of the visitors' experience.

"The new building is not based on an idea of style or the rehashing

of ready made ideas or external shape because its architecture does

not separate the inside from the outside or provide a pretty facade

behind which a typical experience exists; rather this architecture has

an organic connection to the public at large and to those aspects of

experience that are also intellectual, emotional, and sensual. The

integration of these dimensions for the enjoyment and edification of

the public is achieved in a building that respects the hand crafted

nature of architecture and its immediate communication from the

hand, to the eye, to the mind. After all, the language of architecture

beyond words themselves is the laughter of light, proportion and

materiality.“

“I was always inspired by the light and the geological formation of Rockies” - Daniel LIBESKIND

APPROCH

The IWMN is fundamentally based on this world - a contemporary world

shattered into fragments and reassembled as a fundamental emblem of

conflict. These fragments, shards or traces of history, are in turn

assembled on this site and projected beyond it. An entirely new landscape

will offer an environment in which the participatory experience of the public

will begin long before the visitors enter through the actual doors. The

building exists in the horizon of the imagination and is visible across the

strategic points of the city and its surroundings.

The IWMN is a constellation composed of three interlocking shards. The

Earth Shard forms the generous and flexible museum space, signifying the

open, earthly realm of conflict and war. The Air Shard serves as a dramatic

entry into the Museum, with its projected images, observatories and

education spaces. The Water Shard forms the platform for viewing the

Canal, complete with a restaurant, cafe, deck and performance

space. These three shards together - Earth, Air and Water - concretize

Twentieth century conflicts which have never taken place on an abstract

piece of paper, but rather have been fought on dramatic terrain by infantry,

in the skies by the airforce and in the sea by battleships.

Concept formulation

This composition and constellation of forms, functions and

relationships all complement the area in which the project is situated,

forming a center out of the disparate places around it. The Lowry

Centre, Manchester United Football Fields, and the Manchester Ship

Canal and transportation system are brought together in a new

perspective for the pedestrian and for those coming to the area by

car. The IWMN can be observed from various vistas and at the

same time provide new views from within itself of the surrounding

panorama - a panorama which becomes part of the Museum

experience and the story of the people of the northern region told

within it. The museum spaces respond to new concepts of their

exhibitions by showing in a concrete and visible form how the

personal histories of the people of the North are woven into the

fabric of Twentieth century conflict. What makes the IWMN unique

is the integration of architecture, exhibition design engineering and a

vision of history and the future. The building is of simple

construction, with low-maintenance costs, efficient use, ecological

responsibility and a sensitive security awareness. The Museum's

impact is one of new life and new potential.

"As Paul Valery pointed out the world is permanently threatened by

two dangers: order and disorder. This project develops the realm of

the in-between, the realm of democratic openness, plurality and

potential. By navigating the course between rigid totalities on one

hand, and the chaos of events on the other, this building reflects an

evolving identity open to profound public participation, access and

education. The Museum is therefore a catalyst for focussing

energies, both entrepreneurial and spiritual, and moulding them into

a creative expression. If Henry Adams were writing today he would

add to the Virgin and the Dynamo the Museum, for it is the cultural

dynamo transforming the past into the New Millennium. The

importance of this act of construction is underscored by the

recreation of the entire Trafford region, leading to urban

regeneration, job creation, and tourist spending. But beyond the

demands for integration and quality, the IWMN will offer substance

for the imagination and the daring of the unexpected. The IWMN will

provide new answers to all programs, invent new connections

between the building and its surroundings and become an instantly

recognizable, memorable place of encounter."

APPROCH

The building consists of three main components: the tall and narrow

central Nussbaum corridor, the long main section, and the bridge,

which acts as a connection to the old museum. In its pathways with

their sudden breaks, unpredictable intersections and dead ends, the

building structure reflects the life of Felix Nussbaum.

"It is only by a fortuitous accident and the determined will of the town

of Osnabrück that the name and works of Felix Nussbaum have

been raised to consciousness amongst the millions of erased Jewish

names and lost works. The task of building a Museum to house the

artistic remnants of Nussbaum‟s life raises issues which are not

merely architectural but moral as well. I believe therefore, that the

destruction of Jewish culture perpetuated by the Third Reich must

not be dealt with solely in memorial terms. The remaining witnesses

to the annihilation of European Jewry are now dying out. The

paintings of Nussbaum are more than paintings - they are everliving

documents which, placed in a new context of participation and a new

witnessing, elevate the narration of history as art into the emblem of

the very survival of the Jewish people and of European civilization.

Passage of Nussbaum

Every element of the spatial organization, geometry and

programmatic content of this scheme refers to the paradigmatic

destiny of Nussbaum: his prize in Rome removed by the Nazis, his

time in Berlin, the consequences of his permanent exile from

Osnabrück, the futility of his escape routes through France and

Belgium, to his final deportation and murder in Auschwitz. And yet

all this tragic destiny is placed in the context of Nussbaum‟s abiding

hope in ultimate justice which this proposed scheme seeks to fulfill.

"The different components of the new complex are seen as

connecting and composing an integral structure, while at the same

time exposing a permanent horizon of disconnection paradoxically

linking significant places to the town; substantial points of history to

spatial memory. The new building, therefore, does not seek to

dominate as a new form, but rather retreats to form a background of

hope for the existing Historical Museum and the Villa containing the

folk art collection. These buildings are treated as the familiar, yet

solitary every-day figures, while the entire site is reorganized around

the nexus of a new topography which connects the town back onto

itself. The Nussbaum Museum becomes the link to a lost history.

"The visitor enters laterally into the Nussbaum pathway, which is cut

open in order to record and define the importance of entering „The

Museum Without Exit.' The exterior of the Nussbaum pathway is

absence itself - an empty canvass of Nussbaum‟s martyred life -

referring to the absoluteness of the crime and the importance of the

public site. This empty exterior bequeaths a sense of openness and

incompleteness which is necessary for the interpretation of

Nussbaum‟s oeuvre. Within the Nussbaum Pathway there are

traces of the vitality of the former Jewish life of Osnabrück. Once the

visitor is inside this compressed space illuminated by triangular

skylights, he/she is confronted with a displaced volume containing

the vertical entrance volume and its attendant functions.

APPROCH

Studio Daniel Libeskind's design study was selected in February 2003 as the master site

plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center Site. In addition to a towering spire of

1776 feet, the plan proposed a complex program which called for the construction of a

memorial with waterfalls, an underground museum, a visitor center, retail space, a special

transit hub and four office towers spiraling to the height of the Freedom Tower.

For more than 5 years, Studio Daniel Libeskind has been coordinating with the Port

Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Foster and Partners, Maki and Associates, Richard Rogers

Partnership, and Santiago Calatrava to realize Memory Foundations -- a truly remarkable

design that will reclaim New York's skyline.

In addition to the the Freedom Tower, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,

and a world-class transportation hub designed by Santiago Calatrava, four more towers

and an awe-inspiring memorial are currently under construction in Lower Manhattan.

"I arrived by ship to New York as a teenager, an immigrant, and like millions of others

before me, my first sight was the Statue of Liberty and the amazing skyline of Manhattan. I

have never forgotten that sight or what it stands for. This is what this project is all about."

"When I first began this project, New Yorkers were divided as to whether to keep the site

of the World Trade Center empty or to fill the site completely and build upon it. I meditated

many days on this seemingly impossible dichotomy. To acknowledge the terrible deaths

which occurred on this site, while looking to the future with hope, seemed like two

moments which could not be joined. I sought to find a solution which would bring these

seemingly contradictory viewpoints into an unexpected unity. So, I went to look at the site,

to stand within it, to see people walking around it, to feel its power and to listen to its

voices. And this is what I heard, felt and saw.

"The great slurry wall is the most dramatic element which survived the attack, an

engineering wonder constructed on bedrock foundations and designed to hold back the

Hudson River. The foundations withstood the unimaginable trauma of the destruction and

stand as eloquent as the Constitution itself asserting the durability of Democracy and the

value of individual life.

"We have to be able to enter this ground while creating a quiet, meditative and spiritual

space. We need to journey down, some 30 feet into the Ground Zero Memorial site, past

the slurry wall, a procession with deliberation. The Memorial site remains protected from

the dynamic activities of a revitalized new neighborhood.

"The foundation, however, is not only the story of tragedy but also reveals the dimensions

of life. The Path trains continue to traverse this ground now, as before, linking the past to

the future. Of course, we need a Museum at the epicenter of Ground Zero, a museum of

the event, of memory and hope. The Museum becomes one of the entrances into Ground

Zero, always accessible, leading us down into a space of reflection, of meditation, a space

for the Memorial itself. This Memorial will be the result of an international competition.

"Those who were lost have become heroes. To commemorate those lost lives, I created

two large public places, the Park of Heroes and the Wedge of Light. Each year on

September 11th between the hours of 8:46 a.m., when the first airplane hit, and 10:28

a.m., when the second tower collapsed, the sun will shine without shadow, in perpetual

tribute to altruism and courage.

"We all came to see the site, more than 4 million of us, walking around it, peering through

the construction wall, trying to understand that tragic vastness. So I designed two ramps,

one from Liberty Street and West Street running along the great slurry wall and one from

Greenwich, behind the waterfall to the southern edge of the site.

"The exciting architecture of the new Lower Manhattan Rail station with a

concourse linking the Path trains, the subways connected, hotels, a

performing arts center, office towers, underground malls, street level shops,

restaurants and cafes will create a dense and exhilarating affirmation of New

York.

"The sky will be home again to a towering spire of 1776 feet high, an antenna

Tower with gardens. Why gardens? Because gardens are a constant

affirmation of life. A 1776 foot skyscraper rises above its predecessors,

reasserting the pre-eminence of freedom and beauty, restoring the spiritual

peak to the city, creating a building that speaks of our vitality in the face of

danger and our optimism in the aftermath of tragedy. Life victorious."

The visitors enter into a dynamic and exhilarating architectural

structure which offers a seamless organization of the artifacts

and the path of the visitor.

The entire building has been conceived as an adventure, both

physical and spiritual in tracing the lineaments that reveal the

intersection of different histories and the dynamics of Jewish

Culture and its unfolding in contemporary life.

The living space of this Connecticut residence is formed

by a spiraling ribbon of 18 planes, defined by 36 points

connected by 54 lines. This pure and dynamic

architectural form generates distinctive interior spaces

while dramatically framing both near and distant

landscape scenes. Large glass planes virtually

disappear within the ribbon, allowing unimpeded

picturesque views of 18th century hay meadows and

giant oaks. Circulation through kitchen, living, dining,

and sleeping areas is seamless and free-flowing, as is

the distinction between interior and exterior

space. Challenging both traditional and modern notions

of “the house in the landscape,” this design gives

nothing of itself up to its natural setting, but selectively

incorporates the elements therein for the enhancement

of both house and landscape.

INTERNET

www.wikipedia.org

www.arcspace.com

www.google.com

www.yahoo.com

www.encarta.com

www.youtube.com

WRITINGS

The Pilgrimage of Absolute architecture

The Myth of Site

Upside Down X

Still-life with Red Predictions

Proof of Things Invisible

Catching on fire

The Never-Ending Story

-Daniel LibeskindBOOK

Breaking Ground

- Daniel LIBESKIND

Studio PROFILE

- Daniel LIBESKIND architects