Breaking Ground: Un'avventura tra architettura e vita

by Daniel Libeskind, Carolina Negri (Translator)

Visionario, poetico, iconoclasta, Daniel Libeskind è l'uomo che ridisegnerà Manhattan a partire dalle rovine del World Trade Center. E lo farà, come sempre, partendo dalla sua coscienza della sofferenza dell'umanità e del suo possibile riscatto. Questo libro è la storia della sua architettura narrata da lui stesso, e una riflessione sui vari aspetti e le varie idee che informano le sue opere più celebri, come il Museo Ebraico di Berlino, ora uno dei posti più visitati della città. Il suo segreto? "Ascolto le pietre. Colgo i volti intorno a me. Cerco di costruire ponti verso il futuro fissando il passato con occhi limpidi. Sono ispirato dalla luce, dal suono, da spiriti invisibili, dalla netta coscienza del luogo e dal rispetto per la storia."

Genres: Architecture, Biography, Nonfiction, Design, Memoir, Art

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Daniel Libeskind is an internationally renowned architect, known for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and the Dublin Performing Arts Center in Dublin, Ireland. His practice is designing commercial, residential, and cultural buildings around the world. His Master Plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center site in New York City was selected in 2003 and has served as the blueprint for the entire site, including the Freedom Tower, the Memorial, the Museum, and the PATH Terminal.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book for architects. This book is for the rest of us. Mercifully, Libeskind avoids occupational jargon and leads us into a world of intense project planning, something we all at one time or another can relate to. Liebskind's project, of course, is on a much grander scale than those of us ordinary folk. His passion for his native and adopted countries, his family, and his chosen occupation shines through in his writing.

[Theresa Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

In another life, I would love to be an architect. Daniel Libeskind is poetic in his love for what great architecture can achieve.

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this one up at my favorite used book store in Alexandira. I'm really looking forward to reading it. I think Libeskind is a genius, when it comes to modern architecture. The Jewish Museum is one of the most fascinating structures I've had the pleasure to visit.

UPDATE: Okay, so I am nerdy enough to have a favorite contemporary architect. But I am NOT crazy enough to be captivated by every teeny little encounter or process that lead to some of L's projects. I was really hoping that Breaking Ground would offer some insights into how Mr. Libeskind approaches space and design, not just a litany of details related to the proposal process. I'm sorry, but I'm more interested in the motivation behind the actual design. There are a couple of cool tidbits in the first chapter, but those interesting moments are just too few and far between. This might be one I try to skim. Or, maybe I'll just come back to it later? I'm not actually sure at the moment. One thing is for sure, though, and that's that Libeskind needs a WAY better editor. Someone needs to sit him down and say, "Hey, listen, you make awesome buildings, and you've got some great stories, but maybe you don't want to assume that the reader is as fascinated by your life as your mom is." This book should feel less like a bunch of letters to home and more like a mature memoir/critical reflection.

[Dan Pfeiffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. Mr. Libeskind is a thoughtful, down to Earth creator in a field rife with bombastic pretensions and slavish post-modern design sensibilities. His battle to build the Freedom Tower based on his original design is an example of what can happen when architecture becomes slave to the ego and vacuous commercial interests. I especially found his upbringing interesting and hid detailing of his parents escape from Nazi Germany only to find themselves confined to Soviet work camps. His mother and father's resilience and refuasal to let these events define them negatively are an inspiration and I believe fomented an aspiring moral clarity in Daniel Libeskind. Certainly his formidable and supportive wife contributes greatly to his inspiration and success. Casual readers and architecture junkies will also find illumination in Libeskind's thoughts around his chosen field. NYC and the world is better for his philosophy of creating work that is about human feeling, identification and voice. I look forward to visiting the Freedom Tower soon.

[Colette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been to two of Libeskind's structures,I was excited to read his memoir. Breaking Ground did not disappoint. Where other architects, let's face it - people in general, define themselves by the past or what they do not want to be, Libenskind allows the story, the land, the building usage to guide his designs. He states several times that true pioneers are not loud and obnoxious. They accept challenges and persevere. His deep love for his family, not just his wife, but his parents who fled from communists and Nazis, is evident in his need to take their stories and learn from them. Architecture is a way to heal, to feel, to mend. Breaking Ground is a truly beautiful read.

[L]

My favourite architect. The Jewish museum in Berlin is absolutely breathtaking. If you ever get the chance to visit do not miss the opportunity.

An interesting read about his many varied inspirations and also the unexpected (for me) politics encountered with designing and realising new buildings.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since he was my boss for a year I thought I would learn how the man ticks. A good book, light and fast reading, with some juicey architecture gossip.

[Jane Hildreth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is reading about genius and egos at its best, if that is possible. Excellent insight into creativity and hutzpar!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely. Opened my eyes to ideas about art/architecture.

[Leandro Llorente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel understood the eternal, timeless and the poetic. He heavily expressed these attitudes in this book.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The shaping of space is important because it engages the body and the mind, emotion and intellect, memory and imagination.”

Daniel Libeskind is a wonderful and empathetic architect; I really wish I have an opportunity to hear him give a lecture.

I feel like there is a tendency for young architecture students nowadays to turn up their noses at fancy projects or “starchitecture” and embrace more humble, quiet, human-scaled aesthetics. Maybe I’m just speaking for myself. But what I’ve understood so far is that buildings can be big and magnificent but also emotional. “Faith in the things unseen” is not something of scale, but anything that has the ability to transform lives.

Because the two projects most prominently featured in this book, the Berlin Jewish Museum and the WTC master plan, are very significant and immediate sites of catastrophe, it makes me think of ways our cities will be reshaped after all the tragedies of our current times. Our spaces, homes, cities will undergo radical change I think, not primarily because of planners and architects, but because of our own experiences and relationship to people and places will start shaping how we approach our future.

“But indifference is not a virtue. And neutrality is not a value...the world is enriched not by neutrality or indifference, but by passions and beliefs.”

[Meisen Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had borrowed Libeskind's memoir in expectation of some gossip in the architectural field, and I got that and so much more. While the memoir does feed into the myth-making of this starchitect, gaining insight into how certain architectural creations are borne and then materialised, and the complexities within was always a joy to read.

Writing collaborator or ghostwriter Sarah Crichton must also be credited for (most of) the writing of the memoir.

[Srikanth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me a totally different perspective of Lebiskind from what I had known about him in architecture school at University of Michigan. Between reading structures textbooks and design studios, we rarely have time to pick up a solid book of confessions and revelations that is Lebiskind's life. Granted, this is a sort of autobiography, so there is a bias, especially when he is talking about the WTC competition, but I found the parts when he is talking about his mother, or his family to be the most intriguing parts of this book. Many architects like FLW or Louis Kahn are revered architects but are despicable men. Here is a man who has a strong family and practices architecture for more than himself, truly a worthy read to keep any architecture student from being discouraged about the rigors of school.

[mahatmanto · Rating 2 out of 5]

ini buku amerika banget: memuji-muji individu hebat yang dari lingkungan tersingkir karena perang dunia kedua, lalu melejit jadi arsitek kelas dunia: daniel liebeskind.
saya suka rancangan dia, tapi buku ini [dan juga banyak buku sejenis] telah membelokkan ulasan tentang karya arsitektur ke arah ulasan tentang arsiteknya sendiri. seolah produksi arsitektur itu di bawah kendali sang arsitek sepenuhnya.
historiografi yang individualistik ini khas amerika. kita butuh historiografi lain, yang lebih cocok dengan kenyataannya.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A timely book (meaning just in time to beef up his case during the messy SOM Freedom Tower situation), Libeskind gives full account of his life (was a decent accordionist, becoming the first person shown live on Polish television when he was but a small child) and career with an enormous gap between quitting Meier's office (and shunting Eisenman during the notorious broom incident) and winning the Berlin Holocaust Museum a dozen or so years later. Otherwise, like Charles Luckman before him, his autobiography portrays him as some type of Forest Gump in cowboy boots.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just started this last night and am loving it...he talks about great buildings telling the story of the human soul. I love that. He started out as a child musical prodigy... and at age 11 won a prestigious scholarship from the American-Israel Culture Foundation which Itzhak Perlman, as a child, also won that year... but Libeskind was playing the ACCORDION! He took it as far as he could and then switched to drawing!

[Will V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libeskind is actually a very eloquent writer. I like how he interweaves his family's experience with his architectural touch, and it was interesting to see some of the behind-the-scenes political machinations that go into creating a large building.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creating world class building isn't just about design, it's also about politics.

[Babay Akbar]

buy me this book please...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting memoir style discussion of Liebeskind's view of the world and art.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too fuddy-duddy, but still intriguing.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The child of holocaust survivors, Daniel Libeskind is the architect responsible for the design of the Ground Zero Memorial and buildings.

[Isabelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lu en français (mauvaise trad), pas fini, assez ennuyeux avec un type très très "arch"