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WARSAW, Oct 4 (AFP) - The celebrated US architect Daniel Libeskind is to build an apartment building 192 metres (630 feet) high in the centre of Warsaw, the investor behind the project said Tuesday.
"Born in Lodz (in the centre of the country) Daniel Libeskind wanted to do something in Poland. He was very motivated by this project," Jean-Claude Moustacakis of the Luxembourg company Orco Property Group told AFP.
Libeskind, born in 1946, left Poland for Israel when he was 11 and then the United States of which he has been a citizen since 1965.
He is famous for many buildings, in particular the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and his design was selected to replace the twin towers of the World Trade Centre destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The Warsaw tower will have 45 storeys in the form of a ship's sail, entirely covered in glass, and will be built in the city centre opposite the Communist-era Palace of Culture, the highest building in the Polish capital at 230 metres (750 feet).
The top of the building will echo the crown worn by the white eagle that is Poland's national symbol.
"I designed the building in a way that it would be different on all sides," Libeskind told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. "That way it will be more interesting.
"Clad in glass, it will be lighter, as if it was floating in the air."
Once all the permits have been obtained, work should begin next year. It should be completed in 2008.
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