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 Jewish Museum, Berlin

Denver Art Museum, Denver

Ground ZERO, New York

Imperial War Museum North

Felix Nussbaum museum, Germany

Danish Jewish Museum, Denmark

The Ascent, Covington

Royal Ontario Museum, Canada

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
Concept formulation 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.
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
Passage of Nussbaum 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.
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 WRITINGS
www.wikipedia.org The Pilgrimage of Absolute architecture
www.arcspace.com The Myth of Site
www.google.com Upside Down X
www.yahoo.com Still-life with Red Predictions
www.encarta.com Proof of Things Invisible
www.youtube.com Catching on fire
The Never-Ending Story
BOOK -Daniel Libeskind
Breaking Ground
- Daniel LIBESKIND
Studio PROFILE
- Daniel LIBESKIND architects