Via MediaBistro, a revealing interview with architect Daniel Libeskind on designing a Jewish museum that isn't centered on the Holocaust:
I’ve dealt with Jewish museums in Europe where you are always part of an immense tragedy. I thought it was remarkable to work in San Francisco on a Jewish museum that is a celebration of Jewish life, and of San Francisco, and of America. That’s why I based it on that very traditional and very ancient core of the Jewish spirit: l’chaim. To life.
Libeskind also discusses the interplay of symbol and abstraction in Jewish design:
[I]f you really go into the biblical texts, you see how important architecture and art is for Jews from the beginning. In the book of Kings, chapter six is a very serious passage. There’s the description of specific measures and cherubim, or angels, and it says: “And he made the oracle in the midst of the house, in the inner part, to set there the ark.” But of course, Jewish architecture is not about venerating an image—it is being communicated through the weight of the buildings, the substantial aspect of the tabernacle.
But enough with the excerpts; read the whole thing here.
I'm more drawn to the traditional architecture of the 19th century (and earlier) but am excited that people are trying new things. I'm trying to collect imagery that spans Jewish architecture and design on a new community at www.jewishconstruct.org.