Daniel Libeskind to Receive the 2011 Medal of Honor from AIA New York

© Studio

Today the AIA New York Chapter will award Daniel Libeskind, AIA, with the 2011 Medal of Honor. The 144th Annual Meeting, which is open to the public, will take place at the Center for Architecture. The Medal of Honor has been given to a member or firm for distinguished work and high professional standing. Beginning in 1917 this award is the highest honor and past recipients include Louis (1949), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1958), Toshikio Mori (2005) and David Childs (2010).

For more information or to attend click here.

Kö-Bogen / Studio Daniel Libeskind

© Archimation

Several hundred guests joined in a ceremony last Friday as he laid the foundation stone of  the Kö-Bogen building along with ’s Lord Mayor Dirk Elbers, investor Kurt Zech of Zech Group, and project developer Stefan H. Muehling.  The stainless steel foundation stone, designed by Libeskind, will be visibly integrated into the facade of the building.

The new 432,300 sqf mixed use building is scheduled for completion in 2013 will house both office and retail space in downtown Dusseldorf.  The design of Kö-Bogen intends to naturally blend landscape into the building space through geometry, permeated cuts in the facade, the green courtyards, and green roof system.   All of these elements are ‘part of a new environment that bridges urban space with park space’.

Felix Nussbaum Museum / Daniel Libeskind

© Bitter Bredt

Architects: Daniel Libeskind
Location: ,
Architect of Record: Reinders & Partner
Structural Engineer: Watermann
Landscape Architect: Müller, Knippschild, Wehberg
Mechanical Engineer: Jäger & Partner, Beratende Ingenieure
Lightning Designer: Dinnebier Licht
Contractor: Reinders and Partner
Project area: 1,890 sqm
Photographs: Bitter Bredt Fotografie

New Furniture Designs for Sawaya & Moroni / Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Dominique Perrault

Z-Chair Chair / Zaha Hadid

Revealed earlier this month in Milan, Sawaya & Moroni‘s New Collection 2011 includes pieces from high profile architects , Zaha Hadid, and Dominique Perrault. William Sawaya and Paolo Moroni, founding partners of Sawaya & Moroni, focus the production of their furniture on contemporary designs intertwined with differing cultural backgrounds, resulting in unique pieces and a selective group of architects and artists.

Ben van Berkel of UNStudio also presented new furniture this month in Milan.

More about the chairs after the break.

Architecture City Guide: Denver

This week our Architecture City Guide heads to the “Mile-High City”. In the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, Denver’s architecture can be as dramatic and serene as its surrounding landscape. From the moment your plane touches down at the Denver International Airport you are immersed in state-of-the-art architecture. We have included a dozen places to go once you arrive. Where else would you visit? Please leave suggestions of buildings a Denver visitor shouldn’t miss.

The Architecture City Guide: Denver list and corresponding map after the break!

The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge / Daniel Libeskind

© BitterBredt

The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge in Covington, , is a 20-story residential tower that was completed in 2008. Reaching 300 feet at its pinnacle, the 310,000 sqf building includes 70 residential units, a swimming pool, garden facilities, large public event space, and a restaurant on the plaza level. The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge was awarded a CNBC Americas Property Award for Best High-Rise Development in 2008.

Project description, images, and drawings after the break.

Architect: Daniel Libeskind
Location: 1 Roebling Way, Covington, Kentucky, USA
Architect of Record: GBBN Architects
Structural Engineer: THP Limited
Mechanical/Electrical/ Plumbing Engineer: KLH Engineering
Contractor: Dugan & Meyers Construction
Client: Corporex
Project Area: 310,000 sqf
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Corporex, BitterBredt, , Michele Nastasi

Design for London Receives Backing from Hadid, Gehry, Piano

Courtesy of

With concerns rising about the future of Design for London, a lengthy list of high profile architects have assembled themselves submitting an open letter to the Mayor of . “As architects from many countries, we want to encourage the Mayor to secure the survival of this remarkable team. We hope that he is aware of how widely admired the efforts are of this small group of talented designers. should consider itself lucky to have a skilled, knowledgeable and creative organisation supporting efforts to make it a better city.”

A projected growth by around one million people over the next twenty years, confirms that Design for London‘s survival is crucial as it is an influential player in steering designs and new developments towards an environmentally responsible city. The protection of London’s existing green spaces, character, heritage, and established unique neighborhoods will be essential as the city builds to accommodate its expected growth, and Design for London‘s collaborative efforts, on behalf of the Mayor of London, verify that projects are focused on these factors.

Full public letter to the Mayor of London following the break.

Westside Bruennen / Daniel Libeskind

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Architects: Daniel Libeskind
Location: Bern,
Project area: 1,5 million sq. ft.
Project year: 2008
Photographs: Daniel Libeskind

Luneburg University’s Libeskind Building / Daniel Libeskind

Courtesy of

’s Lüneburg university wants to reinvent itself as an elite academic institution and is looking to generate buzz with a huge new building designed by star US architect Daniel Libeskind. Students and local politicians have criticized the ambitious plans, but construction is going ahead, now that funding has finally been secured. More images and description after the break.

Architecture City Guide: San Francisco

This week we are featuring for our Architecture City Guide series.  Thank you to all of our readers for adding their can’t miss buildings last week.  We hope to see your comments below this week too.

Follow the break for our San Francisco list and a corresponding map!

AD Classics: Jewish Museum, Berlin / Daniel Libeskind

© Mal Booth

In 1987, the government organized an anonymous competition for an expansion to the original Jewish Museum in that opened in 1933.  The program wished to bring a Jewish presence back to after WWII.  In 1988, Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the winner among several other internationally renowned architects; his design was the only project that implemented a radical, formal design as a conceptually expressive tool to represent the Jewish lifestyle before, during, and after the Holocaust.

The original Jewish Museum in Berlin was established in 1933, but it wasn’t open very long before it was closed during Nazi rule in 1938.  Unfortunately, the museum remained vacant until 1975 when a Jewish cultural group vowed to reopen the museum attempting to bring a Jewish presence back to Berlin.  It wouldn’t be until 2001 when Libeskind’s addition to the Jewish Museum finally opened (completed in 1999) that the museum would finally establish a Jewish presence embedded culturally and socially in Berlin.

Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution / Daniel Libeskind

Libeskind's Denver Art Museum © Bitter Bredt

Yesterday, it was announced that Daniel Libeskind will design a landmark building for the UK that will house the new Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution.  As part of the University of Essex, the UK’s highest ranked university for social science research, this new building seeks to become an “international beacon for democracy” as it will build upon the university’s 40 years of practical and academic expertise in the field of human rights, justice and governance.  Libeskind commented, “I consider it an honor to be involved in a project with such visionary humanitarian objectives. I have always believed that democratic openness and conflict resolution is critical not only in the political sphere but in the making of architectural space.”

More about the project after the break.

Denver Art Museum / Daniel Libeskind

© Bitter Bredt

Architects: Studio Daniel Libeskind
Location: Denver, , USA
Joint Venture Partner: Davis Partnership
Contractor: M.A Mortensen Co. (Colorado)
Structural Engineer: Arup (Los Angeles)
Structural Connection Design: Structural Consultants, Inc.
Civil Engineers: JF Sato and Associates
Mechanical Air: Arup-Los Angeles
Mechanical/Electrical: MKK Engineers and Arup (Los Angeles)
Structural Engineers: ARUP (Los Angeles)
Structural Connection Design: Structural Consultants, Inc.
Civil Engineers: JF Sato and Associates
Interior Designers: Studio with Davis Partnership
Landscape Architects: Studio Daniel Libeskind with Davis Partnership
Lighting Consultant: George Sexton and Associates
Theater Consultant: Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
Acoustical Consultant: ARUP (Los Angeles)
Exterior Façade Consultant: Gordon H Smith, ARUP, BCE;
Project Area: 146,000 sq ft
Project Year: 2006
Photographs: Bitter Bredt, DAM, SDL, Michele Nastasi

KT Landmark Tower / Studio Daniel Liebeskind + G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners

@ Courtesy of SDL &

Architect: Daniel Libeskind + G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Client: KT Corporation
Project architect: Carla Swickerath (Studio ) + Chuloh Jung (G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners)
Design team: Seungki Min, Byungdon Yoo, Roy Oei (Studio Daniel Libeskind) + Shinhui Won, Wookjin Chung, Sangsu Park, Sang-Hyun Son, Inkyung Han, Taewook Kang, Namhui Kim, Shinkyung Jo (G.Lab* by Gansam Architects & Partners)
Project area: 169,784 sqm
Competition Year: 2010

Forum for Urban Design

Last week, we attended a forum on urbanism held in Goldman Sach’s brand new building in downtown Manhattan.  The forum specifically discussed the role of the mega project and its significance on the future of American urban development.  The panel included Daniel Libeskind, Richard Kahan (the former Chairman and CEO of Battery Park City Authority) and Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New Yorker.

International Landscape Architecture Competition

Building designed by

The Leuphana University of Lueneburg invites landscape architects to re-design the existing 15ha Campus in conjunction with a proposed new key building designed by Daniel Libeskind.

The competition is a closed invitation process with 5 participants following an international open application procedure. The invited participants will be asked to submit a masterplan (deadline Sept 6, 2010) and also to make themselves available for a week in October to present and discuss the masterplan with students at the Leuphana Fresher’s week, as well as support groups of students in associated projects.

Deadline for application is June 1, 2010. For more information, click here.

Daniel Libeskind to design Jewish Museum Berlin Academy

© Courtesy of - Rendering by bromsky

The Jewish Museum held a press conference yesterday to reveal the design by Daniel Libeskind for the Jewish Museum Berlin Academy. Mr. Libeskind designed both the Jewish Museum Berlin (completed 2001) and the Glass Courtyard (completed 2007) which is an extension to the original building.

More images and complete press release after the break.

Libeskind delivering 2010 Charles Atherton Memorial Lecture

Grand Canal Theatre - © Ros Kavanagh

Architect Daniel Libeskind (see his projects here) will discuss the symbolism and architectural expression of commemoration. The Charles H. Atherton Memorial Lecture is part of the National Building Museum Symposium “Power, Architecture and Politics: The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the Design of Washington”.

The lecture will take place next Wednesday, May 19 at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street NW Washington, DC from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. More information here.

Grand Canal Theatre / Daniel Libeskind

© Ros Kavanagh

Architect: Daniel Libeskind
Location: Dublin Docklands,
Principal in Charge: Stefan Blach
Project Leader: Gerhard Brun
Project Team: Feargal Doyle, Patrick Cox, Andreas Baumgärtner, Matthias Rühl, Toralf Sümmchen, Anna Poullou, Guillaume Chapallaz, Nathaniel Lloyd, Jens Jessen, Jens Hoffman, Kaori Hirasawa, Luca Mangione, Anja Bungies and Christian Müller
Client: Ramford Limited, Chartered Land
South Office Block Area: 21,092 sqm
Theatre Area: 13,768 sqm
North Office Block Area: 33,320 sqm
Budget: $269.9M USD
Project Year: 2009-2010
Photographs: Ros Kavanagh

City Center Las Vegas: 6 LEED Gold certifications

CityCenter Crystals Veer Aria and Harmon

With over 16,797,000 square feet (1,560,500 m2), the recently opened City Center Las Vegas has become one of the largest certified projects in the world. The project included some of the world’s largest firms: Pelli Clarke Pelli, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Helmut Jahn, RV Architecture LLC led by Rafael Viñoly, Foster + Partners, Studio Daniel Libeskind, David Rockwell and Rockwell Group, and Gensler.

Inside the complex we find several towers, with hotels, casino and residences, from which the Mandarin Oriental, ARIA Resort’s hotel tower, ARIA’s convention center and theater, Vdara Hotel & Spa, Crystals and Veer towers have received LEED Gold certification.

More photos and information about each building after the break.

Daniel Libeskind, interviewed at Livestream

Livestream + Live4Space are co-hosting a live interview with Daniel Libeskind today at 2:00PM ET (GMT -5). Thanks to the Livestream platfom, Libeskind will not only discuss his role on the WTC master plan, but will also answer questions by the audience. All you have to do is go to the streaming website here and send your questions during the interview.

The live event has concluded, and you can now watch a replay on the above video.