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Title: Daniel Libeskind : The Space of Encounter by Daniel Libeskind, Jeffrey Kipnis, Anthony Vidler ISBN: 0-7893-0496-1 Publisher: Universe Books Pub. Date: 21 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.25 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Million Dollar Genius
Comment: They say that 'Real artists don't know they are artists". Usually, the corollary is also true: those arrogant enough to make the claim of greatness for themselves are typically judged otherwise by history. Not willing to allow posterity the final judgement, Daniel Libeskind and wife/partner Nina recently demanded (under threat of lawsuit) an additional $1 million dollar 'Genius Fee' from Ground Zero Developer Larry Silverstein, who replaced the pouting designer with another firm. Add to this that Daniel and Nina hypocritically sub-contracted the design of their New York City apartment to another architect (evidently they weren't able to do it themselves, or - more interestingly - to let anyone in their office handle it), and you can see why they are the laughingstock of the architectural profession. Libeskind's meritless fame owes more to outrageous and clownish antics, than designing buildings of long-term merit. A dab hand at slick images, his few built works already have the depressing aesthetics of run down bunkers. Understandably, he would not to want to live in one himself.
Great cities, (Paris, Rome, Barcelona come to mind) are marked by a consistency of character, the architect's inventiveness displaying itself in subtleties and refinements to the dominant harmonious qualities. Streets in particular benefit from commonality of scale and materials that develop a strong sense of place. The skillful designer learns to be spectacular while not destroying what is already in place. (Think of Carlo Scarpa's work in historical centers, and you'll see what I mean.) - Not so for Libeskind, who offers disharmony, disjunction, destabilization, crass geometry and historical ignorance as though it were a way forward for the urban problems we face today. A disrespect for context and regional character marks the diagrammatic formalism of his lumpen and unsophisticated modeling.
This tedious volume chronicles in amusing and nonsensical prose, the unverifiable suppositions that underpin Libeskind's anti-urban, anti-architecture, anti-human designs. It is dressed up in fanciful, glossy graphics of course, but these are the gimmicks that impress (as magpies are attracted to any bright and shiny thing), juvenile, but unrefined minds. If the Libeskinds deserve a 'Genius Fee', it should be for the PR exercise that enabled them to promote this aesthetically illiterate foolishness for financial gain, (now marketed at $1 Million Dollars). But this latest cocky arrogance draws attention to them for the skilled commercial opportunists they are. In Europe, Daniel and Nina managed to fool some of the people for some of the time. Thankfully, more savvy Americans were not so easily deceived by the Libeskinds' entertaining but ultimately laughable circus act. If you must see this show, please remember to throw some peanuts to the monkeys.
Rating: 1
Summary: Libeskind - The Britney Spears of Architecture
Comment: Catchy, at best, but in serious architectural discussion, Daniel Libeskind hardly rates a mention. Although flash in a modish, but insubstantial and purely graphical way, his work lacks the meaningful level of enquiry that characterizes mature architectural investigations. Lacking a more convincing body of work, this particular volume hides behind a slew of quirky typefaces and fonts laid out in irritatingly angled lines. And there are plenty of drawings that are not intended to be intelligible at any meaningful level. It is the smoke and mirrors approach that matches Libeskind's work. Significantly his design approach has more to do with a capricious and whimsical selection of generators. In the case of the World Trade Center site, for example, purely arbitrary lines based loosely on flight paths, arrows towards fire stations, and such are presented (without a hint of embarrassment) as though they are a response to the real problem at hand, which was to generate a valuable urban space and building for New York. Similarly fanciful notions are presented in Libeskind's characteristically giddy way without reference to context at other locations. Architecturally, the 70's and 80's were marked by embarrassing fads including Brutalism, Deconstruction and Post Modernism. And as Libeskind's built work already takes on the tired look of the gimmicks that they always were, it doesn't take a clairvoyant to recognize that his oeuvre will be consigned along with disagreeable buildings by Stanley Tigerman, Helmut Jahn and Ricardo Bofill (all popular faddish architects in their day) to the scrapheap of senseless design. - And as one other reviewer on this page has pointed out, Libeskind himself seems not to have been willing to live in an apartment of his own design. - Given how poorly he functions as an architect, I suppose he could be forgiven for that. - If "pop" architecture is all that you are interested in, there might be something in this amusing book. But if you are serious about the profession, try Jane Jacobs, William H. White or Louis Kahn, all of whom had genuine, informed and sincere comments on how our buildings and cities might satisfyingly be composed. But Generally speaking, Libeskind has nothing worthwhile to add to the discussion of either.
Rating: 1
Summary: Empty Space
Comment: Libeskind's conceptual position has always been highly abstract and not rooted in the real world. His buildings reflect this distancing from the human condition and help to explain why they make such poor architecture. Libeskind delights in the youthful act of "challenging" the status quo, not because he can find fault with it, rather because it is the easy way to achieve fame and recognition. But his work ultimately fails both as architecture (which he does not understand) AND as sculpture (which is how he really perceives it). This is the pouting work of a spoiled brat who throws tantrums rather than learn why civilised behavior is best in company. Look closely at the gimmicky concepts for most of his work (the 'shard' and 'shell' of the British War Museum is a fine example) and see how poor these one-trick ideas are. As for urban space, Libeskind doesn't even try. This is the severe work of an outsider who cannot accept that he has never fit in. That the work is so joyless becomes easier to understand.
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Title: Zaha Hadid : The Complete Work by Aaron Betsky, Zaha Hadid ISBN: 0847821331 Publisher: Rizzoli Pub. Date: 15 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: Daniel Libeskind Jewish Museum Berlin: Jewish Museum Berlin: Between the Lines by Bernhard Schneider, Daniel Archer Libeskind, Christian Brensing ISBN: 3791320750 Publisher: Prestel USA Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: S,M,L,Xl by Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau, Hans Werlemann ISBN: 1885254865 Publisher: The Monacelli Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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Title: Parallax by Steven Holl ISBN: 1568982615 Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: Morphosis: Buildings and Projects, Volume 3 by Thom Mayne, Anthony Vidler, Tony Robins ISBN: 0847820742 Publisher: Rizzoli Pub. Date: 15 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $85.00 |
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