Famous Architect Visits Zagreb

At the invitation of the Orco Property Group, Daniel Libeskind arrived in Zagreb not as a tourist, but as an architect.

Daniel Libeskind, one of the most famous architects in the world, presented himself at a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday. He arrived in Zagreb from NewYork at the invitation of the Orco Property Group, in order to become personally acquainted with urban planning and infrastructure of Zagreb, and get insight into construction possibilities in the Croatian capital on sight. 

I did not come here as a tourist, but as an architect, to offer something, Libeskind said.

The famous American architect of Polish descent became world-famous after winning an international tender for the construction of the Jewish Museum in Berlin with its provocative architectural design with the entryway in the form of a broken Star of David.

Although I designed numerous Jewish memorial centres, this is not one of my specialties, my practice is much wider and my main work is the fast urban development of a city, Libeskind said.

He is known for his critical discourse he introduced in architecture and for his multidisciplinary approach. His works stretch from the construction of large cultural and business institutions – including museums and concert halls – to congress centres, universities, housing facilities, hotels, shopping centres and residential units. He also designed opera scenes and had a building design studio.

He was born in post-war Poland in 1946. He became an American citizen in 1965. Libeskind studied music in Israel (with a scholarship of the American-Israeli cultural foundation) and in New York and became a virtuoso. He left music for architectural studies. He graduated from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York in 1970. He earned his post-graduate degree at the Comprehensive Studies School at Essex University in England in 1972. In 1989, Libeskind won the tender for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which opened for the public in September 2001.

Architects must not be sprinters. In the construction of new centres of large cities, one must treat old cultural buildings with respect, but one should also take into account functionality, the twenty-first century and the way of life it brings, which means being a marathoner and thinking long-term, the architect said.

Daniel Libeskind also won the tender for the construction of “Ground Zero” in Manhattan, where the WTC buildings were destroyed in 2001.

Ground Zero is a place full of emotions and certainly the construction of something that complex cannot pass without problems, but construction works are underway and it will be open for the public by 2009. The public has been calculated into the look and functionality of new buildings because it is New Yorkers who live there after all, he said in response to a question about the reconstruction of New York.