Libeskind is best recognized by his way of communicating complex emotions and ideas through his designs.

After studying music at the Łódź Conservatory, he moved to New York City on a music scholarship in 1960. Changing his artistic aims after arriving, he began to study architecture under John Hejduk and Peter Eisenman at Cooper Union. He achieved his master’s degree in the history and theory of architecture from the University of Essex, England in 1972.

In 1989, he won a competition to build an addition to the Berlin Museum that would house the city museum’s collection of objects related to Jewish history, this accomplishment cemented his reputation as an architect.  The building was completed and opened by 2001. Libeskind, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, worked to convey several levels of meaning in the building, relating to this connection. This included the base floor plan resembling the star of David, a space titles The Void, a length of the museum in which visitors can see but not enter, and angular window panels channeling a sense of disorientating light. In 2000–01, Libeskind remodeled the building somewhat to facilitate its museum function.

Libeskind was continuously commissioned for works proceeding the Berlin Museum. In 2003 Libeskind won an international competition to rebuild the World Trade Center site in New York City. His design was praised by both the architectural community and the general public, but commercial and safety concerns ultimately overrode the original design. This project was significant due to kill careful consideration of the visitors visions and representation. 

Libeskind continued to be sought after for Jewish projects. Among these were the interior of the Danish Jewish Museum (completed 2003) in Copenhagen, a glass courtyard (completed 2007) for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum (completed 2008) in San Francisco. He was also tapped for a variety of art museum buildings—including the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal (completed 2007), an extension of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; and the Frederic C. Hamilton Building (opened 2006), an extension of the Denver Art Museum—and many other structures.

Libeskind’s later projects included the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre (completed 2010), City University of Hong Kong; the extension to the Museum of Military History (2001–11), Dresden, Germany; the Magnet housing development (2008–14), Tirana, Albania; the Ogden Center for Fundamental Physics (completed 2016) at Durham University, England; and MO Museum (completed in 2018), a modern art museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. Throughout his career Libeskind also designed sculptures, furniture, lighting, hardware, and other objects.