The Architect
Daniel Libeskind
A Renowned International Figure in Architectural Practice ...
Born in postwar Poland in 1946, Daniel Libeskind became an American citizen in 1965. He studied music in Israel (on the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship) and performed in New York City as a virtuoso. He left music to study architecture receiving his professional architectural degree at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1970 in New York City and a postgraduate degree in History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Comparative Studies at Essex University in 1972.
The Building of the Jewish Museum Berlin ...
His practice in architecture began with the building of the Jewish Museum Berlin, a competition he won in 1989. The museum opened to great critical acclaim in September 2001. His museum for the city of Osnabrück, Germany, The Felix Nussbaum Museum, opened in July 1998. And in July 2002, the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester was opened to the public. Since 1989 Libeskind lived and worked in Berlin. He is a registered architect in Germany with the Architektenkammer Berlin and is in the society of the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA).
He is presently designing The Spiral Extension to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; "Westside" an urban scale entertainment and shopping center in Brünnen, Switzerland; the Maurice Wohl Convention Centre at Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv; Atelier Weil, a private atelier / gallery in Mallorca, Spain; the Extension to the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen; a Post-Graduate Centre at London Metropolitan University; the Extension to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and the Military Museum in Dresden. He is also designing the sets for Wagner's "Ring" at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London.
His Work
Daniel Libeskind has taught and lectured at many
universities worldwide. Currently he is a Professor at the
University of Pennsylvania and the Frank O. Gehry Chair at the
University of Toronto. Daniel Libeskind has been the recipient
of numerous awards, most recently the Hiroshima Art Prize,
given to an artist whose work promotes peace; in 1999 the
Deutscher Architekturpreis (German Architecture Prize) for the
Jewish Museum Berlin; in 2000 the Goethe Medaillon; in 1996 the
American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Architecture and
in the same year the Berlin Cultural Prize. He has received
numerous honorary doctorates: in 1997 an Honorary Doctorate
from Humboldt Universität, Berlin; in 1999 an Honorary
Doctorate from the Essex University, England; most recently an
Honorary Degree of Doctor from the University of Edinburgh and
an Honorary Degree of Doctor from DePaul University,
Chicago.
His work has been exhibited extensively in major museums and
galleries around the world and has also been the subject of
numerous international publications in many languages. His
ideas have influenced a new generation of architects and those
interested in the future development of cities and
culture.
Daniel Libeskind is married to Nina Libeskind and has three
children, Lev, Noam and Rachel. The family had been living in
Berlin for thirteen years. They moved to New York City in early
2003.
Source: Jewish Museum Berlin