ABSTRACT
Daniel Libeskind constructed “Three Lessons in Architecture” for the Venice Biennale 1985. The project consists of three large machines: the Reading Machine, the Memory Machine and the Writing Machine. Each machine embodies a way of thinking and making architecture within the tradition of humanism. The making of these machines is a tool that enables Libeskind to discuss the present state of architectural production by examining its past. Libeskind believes that the experiences retrieved by the construction of these machines are still present; handicraft, intellectual control and industrial production coexist, and intermingle in architecture today. However, these means of architectural production are at their fi nal stage; “something” is ending. This “something” is not in the realm of objects but in the realm of thoughts and experiences. It is these thoughts and experiences that Libeskind wishes to recapture in the making of the machines and to use as indicators for the future of architecture.
