Book List of the Week

Book List of the Week: Daniel Libeskind

By Steve Kroeter October 6, 2014
Daniel Libeskind, architect: Studio Daniel Libeskind (New York) (Photo © Ilan Besor)
View Daniel Libeskind’s Book List

Architect Daniel Libeskind, one of our original book list contributors, will be the keynote speaker this Thursday, October 9, at the inaugural Dwell on Design New York, a “festival of modern design” organized by Dwell magazine October 9–11. Libeskind will discuss his design language and work, which includes the Jewish Museum in Berlin and master planning for the World Trade Center redevelopment, with Dwell’s editor in chief, Amanda Dameron. The event will also feature a design book fair curated by Designers & Books with more than a dozen publishers and out of print book dealers.

To mark the occasion, we revisit Libeskind’s original book list, along with some new additions the architect sent along. The list of books that have influenced and inspired him now numbers 30 titles that range from art and architecture classics to fantasy and poetry.

Ground Zero, New York redevelopment master plan concept sketch, 2003. © Studio Daniel Libeskind

Two highlights are The Letters of Vincent van Gogh (“To design is to struggle,” comments Libeskind) and Marinetti: Selected Writings, which includes F. T. Marinetti’s famed Futurist manifesto of 1909 (“The only manifestos that are still relevant for design—because the future is always just ahead,” Libeskind notes). The list is intriguingly introduced with a poem by Emily Dickinson and just as intriguingly ends with James Joyce’s Ulysses (on the list of non-design books most frequently chosen by designers) accompanied by the comment, “You can’t do urban planning without this book. . . .”

Libeskind is also the author of several books on architecture, including the recently published (in Italian) La linea del fuoco: Scritti, disegni, macchine (The line of fire: writings, drawings, machines).

View Daniel Libeskind’s Book List.

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