I have always been a fan of industrial and achitectural design. Lately, I have been finding out more and more about the work of Daniel Libeskind, a Polish-Jewish-born architect. Libeskind, who is now based in NY, has a track record of literally outside-the-box thinking designs ranging from the Danish Jewish Museum, Jewish Museum Berlin, the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, England to the Denver Art Museum [DAM].

I had the pleasure of visiting the Denver Art Museum in August of 2007. It was an amazing laberynth of sharp edges and angled walls. One of the many characteristics of this structure, as are most of Libeskind’s designs, are the usage of natural light as its main source of illumination. This speaks as well of the use of organic thought put into his design language, in terms of the traffic flow and visual/emotional stimulus created by jagged windows allowing light to enter just in the right shape and intensity to shine on a given work of art.

An example of this language, is the The skewed angles and intersecting lines, the use of shadows, absence of light, oversaturation of light to communicate feelings of confusion, loss of memory, solitude as seen in the photo [left] in the Holocaust Tower in the Jewish Museum - Berlin.

“The Axis of the Holocaust leads through a heavy, black steel door into the Holocaust Tower, the only Void outside the Museum building. The bare concrete tower is 24 meters high and neither heated nor insulated.

It is lit by a single narrow slit high above the ground. Noises from the outside world are clearly audible but the normality they effuse is unreachable.

The bare and empty Holocaust Tower commemorates the numerous Jewish victims of mass murder.” (Source: The Jewish Museum Berlin)

“The Holocaust Tower is the space which somehow ends the old history of Berlin.” (Daniel Libeskind, 1999).

His work defies the “rules” of conventional architecture and is definitely one of the most daring and intriguing architects of our time. His design flare also caught the attention of the Freedom Towers project in NYC by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, who are leading in the creation of a permanent Memorial remembering and honoring the thousands of innocent men, women and children lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Although his design in particular will not be used for the actual towers, his ideas and input are and have been a source of inspiration in the development of the project.

Click here for more on the Lower Manhattan Project

Stay tuned for more on Libeskind.