Daniel Libeskind facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Daniel Libeskind
Libeskind in front of his extension to the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, 2011
Born	(1946-05-12) May 12, 1946 (age 79) Łódź, Poland
Alma mater	The Cooper Union University of Essex
Occupation	Architect
Spouse(s)	Nina Lewis Libeskind (m. 1969)
Children	3

Practice	Studio Daniel Libeskind
Buildings	Felix Nussbaum Haus Jewish Museum Berlin Imperial War Museum North Contemporary Jewish Museum Royal Ontario Museum (expansion) One World Trade Center (2002) The Ascent at Roebling's Bridge

Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a famous Polish-American architect, artist, and professor. He started his own company, Studio Daniel Libeskind, in 1989 with his wife, Nina. He is the main architect who designs the buildings.

Libeskind is well-known for designing the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany. It opened in 2001. In 2003, he became even more famous. He won a big competition to create the master plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City. This site was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.

Some of his other famous buildings include the addition to the Denver Art Museum in the United States and the Imperial War Museum North in England. He also designed the unique Michael Lee-Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. His work can be seen in many countries, from Singapore to Israel. His designs have been shown in major museums around the world.

Early Life and Education
Career Highlights
- Design and Art
Academia and Teaching
Notable Projects
Awards and Recognition
Personal Life
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Education

Daniel Libeskind was born in Łódź, Poland. His parents, Dora and Nachman Libeskind, were Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust. When he was a young child, Daniel learned to play the accordion. He became very good at it and even performed on Polish television in 1953. In 1959, he won a scholarship and played alongside a young Itzhak Perlman, who later became a famous violinist. Libeskind lived in Poland for 11 years. He says he can still speak, read, and write Polish.

In 1957, his family moved to Israel, living first in a Kibbutz (a community farm) called Gvat, then in Tel Aviv. In 1959, they moved to New York City. In his book, Breaking Ground, Libeskind shared how living on the kibbutz made him care about "green architecture," which means designing buildings that are good for the environment.

In New York, Libeskind lived in a cooperative housing development in the Bronx. He went to the Bronx High School of Science. His father worked in a print shop in Lower Manhattan. Daniel watched the original World Trade Center being built in the 1960s. He became a United States citizen in 1965.

Libeskind went to Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1965. He earned his architecture degree in 1970. He also got a postgraduate degree in architectural history and theory from the University of Essex in 1972.

Career Highlights

Libeskind started his career as a teacher and writer about architecture. He taught at many universities around the world. From 1978 to 1985, he was the head of the Architecture Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.

His first actual building was completed when he was 52 years old. This was the Felix Nussbaum Haus in Osnabrück, Germany, which opened in 1998. Before this, some critics thought his designs were too difficult to build. In 1987, he won his first design competition for housing in West Berlin. However, the Berlin Wall fell soon after, and the project was canceled.

Felix Nussbaum Haus (1998), Osnabrück, Germany

Libeskind won the first four major competitions he entered. One of these was for the Jewish Museum Berlin in 1989. This museum became the first one dedicated to the Holocaust in World War II. It opened in 2001 and received international praise. This was his first big international success. A glass courtyard was added to the museum in 2007. The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin, also designed by Libeskind, was finished in 2012.

Libeskind was chosen to lead the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks. His idea for the site, called Memory Foundations, was very popular when he showed it in 2003. However, the final design was changed quite a bit before it was built. He was the first architect to win the Hiroshima Art Prize. This award is given to artists whose work helps promote peace and understanding around the world. Many of his projects explore the strong connections between memory and architecture.

Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (2007)

Studio Daniel Libeskind's main office is in New York, close to the World Trade Center site. The studio has designed many cultural and business buildings. These include museums, concert halls, universities, homes, hotels, and shopping centers. Some of their recent projects are the MO Museum in Lithuania and the National Holocaust Monument in Canada.

Design and Art

Besides buildings, Libeskind has also designed many objects, furniture, and other items for building interiors. He has worked with well-known design companies like Fiam, Artemide, and Swarovski.

His design projects also include sculptures. Some of his early sculptures from the 1990s were based on his drawings. The Polderland Garden of Love and Fire in the Netherlands is a permanent art installation completed in 1997. Later, in 2015, Libeskind designed the Life Electric sculpture on Lake Como, Italy. This sculpture honors the physicist Alessandro Volta.

Libeskind has also designed sets for operas, like The Architect in 1998 and Tristan und Isolde in 2001. He even designed the sets and costumes for other opera productions. He has also written poetry, which is included in his book Fishing from the Pavement.

Academia and Teaching

Daniel Libeskind was the Head of Architecture at Cranbrook Academy of Art from 1978 to 1985. During this time, he explored different ideas about space. He was a leader in new, experimental architecture and teaching. He created many writings, artworks, and large-scale projects. These included the Reading Machine, Writing Machine, and Memory Machine. These "machines," called the Three Lessons in Architecture, were shown at the Venice Biennale in 1985. Libeskind won an award there. He has taught at many universities worldwide, including Yale University, Harvard, and the University of London. He still teaches students at various universities today.

Notable Projects

Here are some of Daniel Libeskind's important projects. The first date is when the project started, and the second is when it was finished.

Completed Projects

Jewish Museum Berlin (1999)

1989–2001 Jewish Museum Berlin – Berlin, Germany
1995–1998 Felix Nussbaum Haus – Osnabrück, Germany
1997–2001 Imperial War Museum North – Greater Manchester, England
2000–2006 Extension to the Denver Art Museum, Frederic C. Hamilton Building – Denver, Colorado, United States
2001–2003 Danish Jewish Museum – Copenhagen, Denmark
2002–2007 Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, extension to Royal Ontario Museum – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The Ascent at Roebling's Bridge (2008) Covington, Kentucky

2004–2008 The Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, residential building – Covington, Kentucky, United States
2004–2010 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Theatre – Dublin, Ireland
Military History Museum (2010), Dresden

2001–2011 Military History Museum – Dresden, Germany
2006–2011 Reflections at Keppel Bay, apartment blocks – Keppel Bay, Singapore
2009–2013 Kö-Bogen, Königsallee, Düsseldorf, Germany
2014–2015 Life Electric, sculpture – Como, Italy
2005–2016 L Tower and Sony Centre for the Performing Arts Redevelopment – Toronto, Canada
2007–2017 Złota 44, residential tower – Warsaw, Poland
2015–2017 Odgen Centre for Fundamental Physics at Durham University, Durham, England
National Holocaust Monument (2017), Ottawa

2014-2017 National Holocaust Monument – Ottawa, Canada
2017-2018 MO Museum – Vilnius, Lithuania

Projects Under Construction

2002-ongoing World Trade Center master plan – New York City, New York
2004–2020 CityLife (Milan), masterplan – Milan, Italy
2017–2023 Tampere Central Arena – Tampere, Finland

Proposed or in Design

2018 – Great Synagogue of Vilna restoration, Vilnius, Lithuania
2017-2022 Occitanie Tower, Toulouse, France
2019-2024 Ngaren: The Museum of Humankind – Kenya

Awards and Recognition

Daniel Libeskind has received many awards for his work:

He was the first architect to win the Hiroshima Art Prize in 2001. This award honors artists whose work promotes peace.
In 2003, he received the Leo Baeck Medal for his work promoting tolerance and fairness.
He received the AIANY Merit Award in 2018 for the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, Canada.
The CTBUH gave him the Urban Habitat Award in 2018 for the World Trade Center Master Plan.
He was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2016.
He received an Honorary Doctorate of Architecture from the University of South Florida.
He was the first person to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Art from the University of Ulster in 2009.
He won the MIPIM award for Best Urban Regeneration Project for KoBogen in 2014.
He received the Goethe Medal in 2000 for his contributions to culture.
Time magazine gave his Felix Nussbaum Haus a Best Design Award in 1998.
He won the First Prize Stone Lion Award at the Venice Biennale in 1985 for his Palmanova Project.

Personal Life

Daniel Libeskind met his wife and business partner, Nina Lewis, in 1966 at a summer camp in New York. They got married a few years later. Instead of a traditional honeymoon, they traveled across the US visiting buildings designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Nina is a co-founder of Studio Daniel Libeskind. Her father, David Lewis, was a Canadian political leader. Her brother, Stephen Lewis, was a Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Libeskind has lived in many places, including New York City, Toronto, Italy, and Germany. He is a citizen of both the United States and Israel.

Daniel and Nina Libeskind have three children: Lev, Noam, and Rachel.