Learning From The Master – Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind argues that an architectural space not only becomes a mere activity container, architecture is like a music that has composition and rhythm. Space should be part of the story, space should also be designed to speak using language. Documentary Daniel Libeskind: Welcome to XXI Century shows how the spaces in the Jewish Museum are pressing, watching, and gripping. In bringing up the spatial language, Daniel plays the scale and lighting system of the Void space, and makes use of the sound experience he has on the sound of the door of the room and the installation of Shalechet.

In addition to the Jewish Museum Berlin, Daniel Libeskind has other works such as the Dresden war museum, the Design Concept of Victoria & Albert Museum, Downton Tower in Vilnius, Occitanie Tower in France, & Ogden Center. From his works there is a consistent resemblance to the formation of tapered corners and triangular fields, mainly seen from the work of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the V & A Museum. The consistency of existing forms of work proves various sources that mention that Daniel utilizes the art of cubism and is related to De Stijl / neoplastic which both have angular formation correlations. In Vanke Pavilion’s work in Milan the curved look remains impressed that Libeskind tries to show a tapered angle through a panel material symbolized as a scalp to symbolize a red-backed dragon for the burning of a hot fire. In the case of the museum building, Daniel presents a new atmosphere, at the Berlin Jewish Museum he arranges a talking space whereas in the Museum of Dresden it is clear that the museum’s order is as dramatic and realistic as possible.

As a metaphorical building, the Jewish Museum Berlin raises various perceptions of the reason why a form is created. The shape of the museum is a description of the star of David and there are three different axis that will lead visitors to feel the atmosphere of exile, death, and sustainability of the Holocaust story during the second world war. The way of delivering the atmosphere into space by Daniel is included into the connotation. The connotation as described in the discussion book “Element of Semiology” is the appearance of the expression by entering the content through the correlation. The evidence of the connotation which in this case enters the emotional atmosphere into the architectural composition so that the building becomes a medium of expression. More concretely Daniel also indirectly stimulates visitors’ constructive memories of what is dark, narrow, the lack of light sources and the clanking sounds in the void room as well as the friction of metal material in the fallen leaves for skull images.

As the decomposition through Saussure’s conception of Signified, Signifier, and Sign, death and desperation are signs and symbolize with a hint of silence and flat, which is manifested through a signifier form of narrow –sized adn dark rooms, minimal light Which is far above the space, as well as a voice that gives you a sense of surprise or curiousity. In Counter Point’s book, Daniel also responds to the Mies Van der Rohe’s dictum. In his conversation he said, that “I never believed in Mies Van der Rohe’s dictum, which was to design one building and endlessly refine it. That’s a great formula for financial security, but for me it’s unadventurous.”.