Daniel Libeskind was born in post-World War II Poland in 1946 and became a U.S. citizen in 1965, according to www.daniel-libeskind.com. He received the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and studied music in Israel, as well as in New York, becoming a virtuoso performer.

Libeskind decided to leave music and study architecture, earning a professional architectural degree in 1970 from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. He also received a post-graduate degree in history and theory of architecture at Essex University's School of Comparative Studies in 1972.

Libeskind went on to become a well-known international architect and designer, designing buildings such as the Grand Canal Theatre project in Dublin; Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England, for which he won the Royal Institute of British Architects Award; the Extension to the Royal Ontario Museum; and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. He also is the master planner for the World Trade Center site in New York.

He has received various other awards, including the Royal Fine Arts Commission's Building of the Year Award for London Metropolitan University; American Architect Award for the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen; Trebbia European Award; and Midland Engineering Co.'s Annual Project of the Year Award for the Ascent at Roebling's Bridge in Covington, Ky.

Libeskind's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, and his buildings have appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Architectural Record and The Wall Street Journal.

His view of architecture is said to reflect his interest and involvement in philosophy, art, literature and music.

This Web exclusive information is a supplement to Safety on the slopes.