Oral History with Daniel Libeskind

Oral history interview with Daniel Libeskind and Amy Weinstein on July 15, 2025.

Daniel Libeskind is the architect of the World Trade Center Master Plan and founder of Studio Libeskind. In this interview, Libeskind reflects on his childhood as the son of Holocaust and Gulag survivors, his family's emigration from post-war Poland to Israel and later to the United States, and the formative experiences that shaped his philosophy of architecture. He recounts his early career as a professional accordion player before studying architecture at Cooper Union, later teaching at universities around the world before gaining international recognition through his design for the Jewish Museum Berlin. Libeskind discusses the competition for the Jewish Museum, explaining how the project launched his architectural practice despite significant political and cultural challenges. He also reflects on the September 11 attacks, which coincided with the planned opening of the museum, and describes his decision to enter the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's (LMDC) international competition to develop the World Trade Center Master Plan. Libeskind recounts the highly public and political nature of the competition, the challenges of navigating competing interests, and the importance of preserving the site as a sacred place of remembrance. He explains how visiting Ground Zero and encountering the Slurry Wall fundamentally transformed his vision for the site, leading him to develop a Master Plan centered on memory, public space, the preservation of the Twin Towers' footprints, and the restoration of the surrounding street grid. Throughout the interview, he emphasizes that memory—not land—is the true foundation of architecture, reflecting on how his family's history, his conversations with victims' families, and his belief in democracy and public space shaped his vision for rebuilding Lower Manhattan and creating a place that honors both loss and renewal.