Deconstructionism is a 20th century philosophical movement initiated by Jacques Derrida that questions assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth. Deconstructivism in architecture emerged in the 1980s, drawing inspiration from postmodernism and contemporary art movements. It is characterized by fragmentation, distortion, and rejection of ornamentation. Daniel Libeskind is a prominent deconstructivist architect known for projects like the Jewish Museum Berlin, which uses its zigzag shape and voids to symbolize the disappearance and absence of Jewish culture in Berlin during the Holocaust.

1. AR. DANIEL LIBESKIND

2. Deconstructionism Movement
Deconstructionism is a 20th Century school in
philosophy initiated by Jacques Derrida in the 1960s.
It is a theory of literary criticism that questions
traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and
truth; asserts that words can only refer to other words;
and attempts to demonstrate how statements about
any text subvert their own meanings.
Jaques Derrida – Father of
Deconstructionism

4. Deconstructivism in Architecture
 Began in the 1980’s
 Continuation / development of post
modernist architecture
 Developed due to advancement of
softwares and computer aided
technology
 Completely departs from the modernist
style of architecture
 Jaques Derrida’s philosophies played a
key role
 Drew inspiration from formalism,
Russian constructivism, modernism
/postmodernism interplay,
expressionism, cubism, minimalism, and
contemporary art
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Dresden Ufa Cinema Center

5. Characteristics of Deconstructivism
Fragmentation Curvilinear forms Non Rectilinear Shapes
Distortion Surface Manipulation Complex geometry

6. Rejection of Ornamentation Breaks down the typified notion of a building,
Abstract assemblage
Stimulating unpredictability, controlled chaos
Challenges traditional ideas of harmony and continuity
Rejects the acceptance
of historical references
Deconstructivism is not only the deconstruction of structure, it also refers to the
deconstruction of ideas.
Deconstructivist architecture seeks to remove all rules and systems from architecture,
stripping it of all the codified methods of the past.

7. DANIEL LIBESKIND
“Architecture is not an object, it is a culture”
Daniel
Libeskind (born May
12, 1946) is a Polish-
American Artist,
Architect, Professor
and set
designer of Polish
Jewish descent.
He gave great importance
to architectural drawings,
sketches.
He was highly influenced by
music, literature and philosophy.
• He believed in having a purpose or signifying something
through every project of his.
• “Building need not have the same formula”
• His works are a “concrete poetry”
“Between the Lines”

8.  The Jewish Museum Berlin
is one of the largest Jewish
Museums in Europe. It
comprises of three buildings,
two of which are new
additions specifically built for
the museum by architect
Daniel Libeskind.
 Libeskind’s Jewish Museum is
an emotional journey through
history. The architecture and
the experience are a true
testament to Daniel
Libeskind’s ability to translate
human experience into an
architectural composition.
The program wished to bring a
Jewish presence back to Berlin
after WWII.
Conceptually, Libeskind
wanted to express feelings
of absence, emptiness, and
invisibility – expressions of
disappearance of the
Jewish Culture.
A huge gap is carved through the
museum, symbolizing the
disappearance of thousands of
Berliners who vanished in the
Holocaust.

9. THE DESIGN
THE TORTURED FORM OG THE ZIG
ZAG EMBODIES ALL THE TORTURE
GONE THROUGH BY THE HOLOCAUST
VICTIMS.
THE TREES ALREADY PRESENT ON
THE SITE GAVE DIRECTION OR THE
ANGLES TO THE STRUCTURE.
THE STRUCTURE SYMBOLIZES THE
STAR OF DAVID
THERE IS A THREE
CORRIDOR ACCESS
SYSTEM
SYMMETRICALY
ARRANGED, SHOWING
THREE MAJOR
EXPERIENCES IN
GERMAN JUDAISM,
CONTINUITY,
EXILE AND DEATH
Architect Libeskind's design was quite startling. He set his
irregular zigzag building next to the former appeals court
building in complete contrast to the existing structure. The
designer created a monolithic structure clad in zinc sheeting.
Its slit windows are designed to suggest scratches, wounds
and scars.

10. In front of the museum
stands Libeskind’s Garden of
Exile. Russian willow oaks
grows atop 49 concrete
pillars set on a sloped
foundation. According to the
architect, the garden is
meant to completely disorient
the visitor. It represents a
shipwreck of history.
The old and new buildings—two pieces of
architectural history—never touch above
grade.
Libeskind’s glass courtyard at
the rear of the Kollegienhaus
opens to an outdoor garden.
The expressive
structure of the pillars
and beams that meet
at the ceiling of the
glass courtyard.
Stairs leading to the underground
passageway connecting the old
building and Libeskind’s new structure.
The façade of the
museum gives few
clues to the
expression of the
building’s interior.

11. Slitted windows, as
seen from the exterior,
are harrowing
representations of
colliding train tracks. Five vast spaces in the new
building, called the Voids,
express the darkness and
uncertainty faced by so
many during the Holocaust
and throughout Jewish
history.
The bare concrete
Holocaust Tower is neither
heated nor cooled, and its
only light comes from a
small slit in its roof.
A trellis forms a living tunnel and
Light at the end of the tunnel.
The museum is conceived
as a trace of the erasure of
the Holocaust, intended to
make its subject legible
and poignant.