Fig. 01 - Architect Daniel Libeskind (source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Festakt_zur_Neuer%C3%B6ffnung_des_Milit%C3%A4rhistorischen_Museums_der_Bundeswehr_-_Daniel_Libeskind.jpg)
Daniel LIbeskind (Fig.01) is a Polish-American architect, artist, professor and set designer born on 12 May 1946. He founded Studio Daniel Libeskind with his wife, Nina, in 1989 when Daniel is unable to work under architects whose practice did not align with Daniel Libeskind's design philosophy.
The 'Voices of the Site' referred to by Daniel Libeskind are the atmosphere, the lights, the building, something that can only be felt and communicated to the soul of human. The 'Voices of the Site' is the story that is being created while you are part of it brings a whole meaning to being in the moment as these moments only happen once. You have to attune yourself to the site and listen to the Earth as according to Daniel Libeskind, "there is no where, where there is 'tabula rasa' and nothing happen and you can erect a perfect stereometric, platonic idea" as to him everywhere is touched by a trauma, or something else that we are unaware of. Daniel Libeskind is an architect who is building a foundation for something to come, therefore, one needs to be an optimist to look forward to the coming future and not reminiscing the past.
Fig. 02 - Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany (source:https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5afa/5636/f197/cc4f/c100/0011/large_jpg/05.jpg?1526355503)
A 'door' to Daniel Libeskind is not just a 'hole in a wall' where people walk through. It is a passage, an experience while traveling from one area to another. An entrance to an area is already part of an atmosphere that the building brings, to be able to bring forth memories and emotions of the past and the present, to allow one to understand the entirety of a space, as Daniel Libeskind is well-known with projects that deal with tragedies, memorials, and museum (Fig.02). Prior to knowing Daniel Libeskind's philosophy of a door, a door to me is a 'hole in a wall'. However, other than a 'hole in a wall', I understand that the door is like a portal, a rite of passage, an area where transition of spaces usually take place at.
Fig. 03 - World Trade Center site, Ground Zero in New York designed by Daniel Libeskind (source:https://libeskind.com/wp-content/uploads/6-REX-PERELMAN-PERFORMING-ARTS-CENTER-c-DBOX.jpg)
The two projects I've chosen are the Jewish Museum in Berlin (Fig.02) and the World Trade Center, Ground Zero in New York (Fig.03) as both projects are a very successful project on a built that is based on tragedies and trauma. They are planned and designed to interpret a narrative through the spaces created from the site's history where people experience through experience and close examination of the site's surroundings. Personally, I agree with Daniel Libeskind's design philosophy of incorporating the trauma that had happened to create something that is new and optimistic, yet retaining the memory of the past and the present. As architecture is not just about the aesthetic or trying to eradicate the past but to embrace the feelings of the past and moving forward with it.
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References
Louisiana Channel. 2018. Daniel Libeskind Interview: The Voices of a Site [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pWov-9PMNQ> [Accessed 29 July 2022].
Wikipedia. 2022. Daniel Libeskind [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Libeskind> [Accessed 29 July 2022].
Evan Pavka. 2010. AD Classics: Jewish Museum, Berlin / Studio Libeskind [online] Available at: <https://www.archdaily.com/91273/ad-classics-jewish-museum-berlin-daniel-libeskind> [Accessed 29 July 2022].
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