The work of Daniel Libeskind has for years escaped me—all those lines and planes swirling and crashing into one another. His buildings seemed like clusters of steel and glass. They would often emerge as noble, formal gestures, but to what end? It wasn't until confronting Libeskind's latest installation, "Beyond the Wall," in Almeria, Spain, that I began to understand the appeal of this architect's controversial work—and respect it. "Beyond the Wall" was commissioned by Spanish surface manufacturer Consentino, and it sits between the company's headquarters and factories. The permanent installation is the latest in an ongoing collaboration between Libeskind and Cosentino, and showcases the manufacturer's latest material, Dekton, an ultra-compact composite that incorporates 3D techniques with stone, ceramic, and glass manufacturing traditions to create a versatile contemporary cladding surface. The stuff covers the entire surface of Libdeskind's 28-foot-high twisted black-and-white sculpture. Libeskind based his design on several decentralized spirals extruded into planes and woven into a geometric fold that twists toward the sky. The planes appear to grow out of one another and come together to create a set of stacked, skewed boxes. The sculpture oscillates between 2D surface and 3D mass, completely collapsing them and leaving no traces of ...
The work of Daniel Libeskind has for years escaped me—all those lines and planes swirling and crashing into one another. His buildings seemed like clusters of steel and glass. They would often emerge as noble, formal gestures, but to what end? It wasn't until confronting Libeskind's latest installation, "Beyond the Wall," in Almeria, Spain, that I began to understand the appeal of this architect's controversial work—and respect it. "Beyond the Wall" was commissioned by Spanish surface manufacturer Consentino, and it sits between the company's headquarters and factories. The permanent installation is the latest in an ongoing collaboration between Libeskind and Cosentino, and showcases the manufacturer's latest material, Dekton, an ultra-compact composite that incorporates 3D techniques with stone, ceramic, and glass manufacturing traditions to create a versatile contemporary cladding surface. The stuff covers the entire surface of Libdeskind's 28-foot-high twisted black-and-white sculpture. Libeskind based his design on several decentralized spirals extruded into planes and woven into a geometric fold that twists toward the sky. The planes appear to grow out of one another and come together to create a set of stacked, skewed boxes. The sculpture oscillates between 2D surface and 3D mass, completely collapsing them and leaving no traces of ...