Cloning Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind is no stranger to Australia and has visited Melbourne. It was something of a surprise to learn that, such was his following, the competition-winning team of Ashton Raggatt McDougal have deployed identifiably Libeskind architecture in the section of their Museum of Australia building which accommodates the Aborigines’ history. Instead of zinc sheet the walls are of blackened concrete. Otherwise, with a change of scale, the building is closely modelled on Libeskind’s Jewish Museum masterpiece in Berlin.

For those who consider integrity and authenticity to be identifiable characteristics in architecture, the experience of the Canberra clone is chastening. Postmodernism still flourishes, however, in Melbourne – although most of the world has moved on. Libeskind’s best course of action would be to contact AciD, about the infringements created by the Canberra ‘quotation’. If he has time, that is.