How do starchitects get those commissions?

My week: Daniel Libeskind, architect

After the ceremony, I talked to Arturo Schwartz, the great Italian expert on Surrealism, and met the main investors in my Milan project – a 64-acre development that will include Italy's first skyscrapers. In the afternoon, I sat admiring the coastline that Nietszche compared to Nirvana, and wrote an article about Hitchcock's films.

Sixty-four acres is a lot of urban land. (In rough order of magnitude about half the size of downtown Seattle, I'd estimate.) And to give the commission -- and of course maybe it's in name only -- to an architect with very little built, and certainly no demonstrated neighborhood planning experience is preposterous. I am sure that his clients know that and will use him only for the publicity. But then that will get him more work from other developers in need of a PR pop. It's fascinating. And sad.

(And Daniel was too modest to mention that he was able to squeeze in a phone call from a Head of State who sought his counsel on an impending international initiative to bring peace to the world.)

Comments

[E]

I think DL is only designing part of it. I believe Zaha is to design a part, and other architects are involved as well.