Daniel Libeskind
THE ROLE OF MASTER ARCHITECT multipart web exclusive documentary.
Master architect Daniel Libeskind discusses the architectural, planning and political issues of designing on a grand scale. His experiences with the World Trade Center site demonstrates the opportunities and problems that arise with projects of national significance Libeskind comments on the role of the architect in finding meaning and context for architecture that transcends the actual construction. Trained at Cooper Union, Libeskind witnessed the building of the World Trade Center while studying architecture providing him with ideas of what large scale architectural development could do for an area.
ABOUT THE FILMS
Architect Daniel Libeskind combines ideas of urban planning, cutting-edge architecture and the role of the architect as an interpreter of the site’s potential within the larger cityscape. The documentary premieres as a series of web exclusive video releases 2-3 minutes in length. Filmed in high definition, the interview section was conducted at Studio Libeskind in Lower Manhattan. Daniel Libeskind’s international architecture practice moved its HQ to New York following the 9/11 attacks so that he could focus on the redevelopment of the site. The tragic history of the building ground and the many competing interests distinguished this project from any that have previously attempted. For a master architect the opportunity transcended the events of the day and focused instead on what a future World Trade Center site would look like and how it would function.
The suite of buildings as originally planned included 5 new skyscrapers, a world-class transportation hub, memorial, cultural center, park and other amenities sufficient for 250,000 daily workers and visitors to the site. The architectural ground upon which the new construction would begin was complicated by both the spaghetti tangle of infrastructure that ran through the site and the emotions inherent in building on hallowed ground. Owned by the quasi-governmental agency, the Port Authority the 16 acre site sits on some of the world’s most valuable land. Home to global banks, financial firms such as giant Goldman-Sachs and private equity firms the neighborhood of the WTC is just blocks from Wall Street. The Twin Towers were constructed on reclaimed land of the Hudson River and replaced an established community of small entrepreneurs and landlords called “Radio Row”. Blocks of 19th and early 20th century tenements and brownstones were demolished for the new World Trade Center’s outsized footprint. Excavation of the vast site provided enough landfill for an entire neighborhood to the west to be constructed; Battery Park City. The original buildings always struggled to find sufficient tenants and eventually found their steadiest source of leasing income from the New York State Government and the Port Authority itself.
Reenvisioning the site became an imperative need after the devastation caused by the attacks in 2001. Architects from major global firms presented their ideas and visions to a combined board of Port officials, State and City representatives and organizations such as the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. In was in this milieu that architect Daniel Libeskind moved his practice to New York and sought a role in the building of the new World Trade Center site. His position as the Master Architect became pivotal as the site itself needed to accommodate many competing interests and purposes. The Master Plan that Libeskind created became an early blueprint for the site’s redevelopment helping to form the basic approaches to the site, its uses and also to identify the problems in bringing the Plan to reality.
Much time has passed since the formation of the original plan and many revisions have been made. Progress at the site itself has become a victim of the site’s own complexity, the role of its memorial function as well as the competing interests of the government, Port Authority, survivor’s organizations and the private real estate development companies charged with the actual rebuilding.
Master Architect Daniel Libeskind’s place in the history of the site will remain as the visionary who sought to claim the ruined ground and return it to vitality and life. As a moment in architectural history, Daniel Libeskind provides an insiders look at one of the greatest challenges an architect has faced in the modern era.