World Trade Center Master Plan

New York, New York, USA Under construction

In 2002, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) announced a competition for a master plan to develop the 16 acres in Lower Manhattan destroyed by the terrorist attack of 9/11. Studio Libeskind’s design, “Memory Foundations,” won the commission. In designing the master site plan, Daniel Libeskind worked closely with all the stakeholders, knowing that it was fundamental to balance the memory of the tragedy with the need to foster a vibrant and working neighborhood. In the end, he devoted half of the 16-acre site to public space, defined by the Memorial and the Memorial Museum, while also setting aside locations…

More about this project

CityLife Master Plan

Milan, Italy Under construction

In 2004 Studio Libeskind, in conjunction with Zaha Hadid Architects and Arata Isozaki & Associates, won the competition in Italy for a master plan to develop and reconnect the existing city fabric of Milan to an abandoned 61 acre site, formerly home to the Fiera Milano, the city’s historic fairgrounds. Close to the center of the new grand central park will be three iconic commercial high rise buildings, with each skyscraper designed by one of the contributing architects. This component of the site is deliberately concentrated in order to maximize space for an open public park, a piazza and the…

More about this project

Alexanderplatz

Berlin, Germany In design

In 1993, the recently reunified city of Berlin launched a competition for a new masterplan for Alexanderplatz. Located in the Mitte neighborhood, Alexanderplatz is at the geographic and spiritual heart of Berlin—the knot that ties the city’s diverse neighborhoods together. Libeskind’s scheme, dubbed “Traces of the Unbroken,” was predicated upon recognizing the square’s place as a gateway between East and West. The design integrated planning and architectural concepts that resisted the erasure of history and reflected a commitment to the memory of the city’s history and cultural development from the Prussian capital to a global nexus of culture. As such,…

More about this project

Archipelago 21 (Yongsan International Business District)

Seoul, South Korea In design

Archipelago 21, Studio Libeskind’s masterplan for the redevelopment of the Yongsan International Business District, dramatically re-envisions the landscape of Seoul, South Korea’s historic capital city.  Incorporating more than 30 million square feet of built area in a large urban park along the Han River, the sustainable plan was conceived to include an international business district, residential neighborhoods, cultural institutions, educational facilities, retail, and transportation. The Studio approached the plan from a human perspective, designing the project from the ground up. The site is organized like an archipelago, broken into distinct neighborhoods called “islands” connected internally by using a retail valley,…

More about this project

Potsdamerplatz

Berlin, Germany Competition

Daniel Libeskind’s design for the 1991 competition to redesign Potsdamer Platz sought to parse the temporal and spiritual discontinuities in the area. Potsdamer Platz was once at the beating heart of the Prussian capitol, before becoming an urban vitrine for Nazism, adorned in neon signs to Reich media. The square was razed by Allied air attacks during the war and was then cut in half by the Berlin Wall in 1961, leaving almost 60 hectares barren. In 1990, the city of Berlin announced a competition to redesign the site, attracting an international field of architects. For the competition, Libeskind chose…

More about this project

Magnet Housing Master Plan

Tirana, Albania Completed

Studio Libeskind’s first project in Albania, the Magnet housing development, consists of a master plan for a new residential neighborhood within walking distance of Tirana’s city center, along with the design for Eagle in Flight, the first 13,000 square meter tower within the master plan to serve as a catalyst for revitalizing the entire district. The masterplan was tailored around a complex site that lacked any public streets. Studio Libeskind opted to keep the site car-free and created a system of interconnected green courtyards linked by pedestrian and cycle paths. The buildings around each courtyard are varied in scale, orientation…

More about this project