Biography
 Architect Daniel Libeskind, an international figure in architectural practice and urban design ,won the World Trade Center design competition in February 2003. He is well known for introducing a new critical discourse into architecture and for his multidisciplinary approach. His practice extends from building major cultural and commercial institutions - including museums and concert halls - to convention centers, universities, housing, hotels, shopping centers and residential work.
Since the early 90s, Libeskind has been involved in a diverse array of urban, architectural, and cultural projects. He won commissions for major cultural buildings and significant urban projects in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Canada, the United States, Japan, Spain, Israel, Mexico, Korea, Singapore and China. Daniel Libeskind’s architecture continues to reflect his profound interest and involvement in philosophy, art, music, literature, theater and film, and a continuing commitment to expanding the horizons of architecture and urbanism.
It is fundamental to Daniel Libeskind’s thinking and motivation that buildings and urban projects are crafted with perceptible human energy and that they speak to the larger cultural community in which they are built.
Born in postwar Poland in 1946, Mr. Libeskind became an American citizen in 1965. He studied music in Israel and in New York, becoming a virtuoso performer. He left music to study architecture, receiving his professional architectural degree in 1970 from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. He received a postgraduate degree in History and Theory of Architecture at the School of Comparative Studies at Essex University (England) in 1972.
In 1989, Mr. Libeskind won the competition for the Jewish Museum Berlin, which opened to the public in September 2001 to wide public acclaim. The city museum of Osnabrück, Germany, The Felix Nussbaum Haus, opened in July 1998. In July 2002, the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England opened to the public. Atelier Weil, a private atelier/gallery, opened in Mallorca, Spain in September 2003. The Graduate Student Centre at the London Metropolitan University opened in March 2004, and the Danish Jewish Museum opened in Copenhagen in June 2004. Tangent, an office tower for the Hyundai Development Corporation, opened in Seoul, Korea in February 2005. Memoria e Luce, a 9/11 memorial in Padua, Italy opened on September 11, 2005. The Wohl Centre, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel; opened in October, 2005. Most recently the Extension to the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; opened to the public in October of 2006 to sell-out attendance and the Museum Residences in Denver, Colorado were completed in October of 2006 as well.
Several of Mr. Libeskind’s projects are currently under construction, including: the Extension to the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; Westside, the largest shopping and wellness center in Europe in Bern, Switzerland; the Military History Museum in Dresden, Germany; the Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge, a residential high-rise in Covington, Kentucky; the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco; several of the components of the World Trade Center Masterplan; the Creative Media Centre for the City University of Hong Kong; Aura, a high-rise housing development in Sacramento, California; Zlotta 44, a residential tower in Warsaw, Poland; and the Sukkah, an extension to the Jewish Museum Berlin.
Mr. Libeskind has many other projects in design and planning, such as the Grand Canal Performing Arts Centre and Galleria in Dublin, Ireland; the New Center for Arts and Culture in Boston, Massachusetts; Epic a high-rise housing development in Sacramento, California; the redevelopment of the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada; the redevelopment of the historic Fiera Milano Fairgrounds in Milan, Italy, a 65-acre site of skyscrapers, housing, retail, and commercial space; a waterfront, residential, development in Singapore; a retail complex in Las Vegas, Nevada, a master plan of the Orestad Development in Copenhagen, Denmark; Songdo a shopping complex in South Korea; a condominium developement in Edwards, Colorado and the Jewish War Veteran’s Memorial in Toronto, Canada.
 Mr. Libeskind has taught and lectured at many universities worldwide. He has held such positions as the Frank O. Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto, Professor at the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Cret Chair at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Louis Kahn Chair at Yale University. He has received numerous awards, including the 2001 Hiroshima Art Prize - an award given to an artist whose work promotes international understanding and peace, never before given to an architect. He was awarded the 1999 Deutsche Architekturpreis (German Architecture Prize) for the Jewish Museum Berlin; also the 2000 Goethe Medallion for cultural contribution; in 1996 the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Architecture and in the same year the Berlin Cultural Prize; in 1990 a membership in the European Academy of Arts and Letters; in 1997 an Honorary Doctorate from Humboldt Universität, Berlin; also in 1999 an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Arts and Humanities, Essex University, England; in 2002 an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary Doctorate from DePaul University, Chicago, and most recently in 2004, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Toronto. Two of Mr. Libeskind’s buildings won RIBA Awards in 2004, the London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre and the Imperial War Museum North, the latter of which was also nominated for the Stirling Prize. Also in 2004, Mr. Libeskind was appointed the first Cultural Ambassador for Architecture by the U.S. Department of State, as part of the CultureConnect Program.
Daniel Libeskind’s 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 buildings have appeared on the covers of Time  Magazine, Newsweek, Architectural Record, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. Mr. Libeskind’s ideas have influenced a new generation of architects and those interested in the future development of cities and culture. In September, 2004, Riverhead Books (Penguin Group) published his memoir, Breaking Ground. The foreign language editions were published in January/February of 2005, encompassing more than 90 countries.
Studio Daniel Libeskind in New York employs of 60 persons, his European office, based in Zürich, Switzerland, has a permanent staff of 25. Additionally, Daniel Libeskind established site offices with personnel around the world in San Francisco, Denver, Bern, Toronto, and Hong Kong, bringing the total number of worldwide employees to roughly 140 persons.
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