View of the Yud from Yerba Buena Lane: San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum

Opened this June, the new home of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco is architect Daniel Libeskind’s first museum in North America. Libeskind incorporated the Hebrew letters chai, chet and yud into the form of the building; other signature features of the museum include a blue-steel clad roof and 36 diamond-shaped windows. The Polish-born architect is best known for his design of the Jewish Museum in Berlin and his winning design—since changed—for the World Trade Center site. moment/images of Libeskind’s museums can be seen in the new book Daniel Libeskind and the Contemporary Jewish Museum: New Jewish Architecture from Berlin to San Francisco.

Photograph by Bruce Damonte - Courtesy of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco