KEY POINTS:
Perhaps, when the architect Daniel Libeskind produced his grand plans for an art museum and office tower designed to inspire civic pride in the heart of Milan, he should not have been surprised when Italy's gaffe-prone Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said the bent structure emanated a "sense of impotence" leaving it "in need of Viagra".
But Libeskind, an American born in Poland, was so outraged that he accused Berlusconi of being a xenophobe who proffers "repugnant" politics, according to the Art Newspaper. The war of words culminated in the Premier's latest threat to withdraw planning permission for the museum.
The spat began when Berlusconi made an off-the-cuff remark about Libeskind's design for the tower, part of the Fiera Milano site.
The skyscraper, intended to be situated between buildings designed by British architect Zaha Hadid and her Japanese colleague Arata Isozaki, curves dramatically, a feature that displeased Berlusconi.
Speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he expressed his chagrin through a series of light-hearted, sexual allusions. "Milan is full of people with crooked members," cackled Berlusconi. "There will simply be one more in need of Viagra."
Critics of the design hoped the Italian Prime Minister's intervention might prompt Libeskind to straighten up his design a little. But the award-winning architect, who designed Manchester's Imperial War Museum, the Jewish Museum in Berlin and a new building in Manhattan at the site of the World Trade Centre, hit back by comparing Berlusconi's aversion with Fascist ideology.
LIBESKIND'S INNOVATIVE DESIGNS ON THE WORLD
Jewish Museum, Berlin
Daniel Libeskind said the deaths of some of his relatives in the Holocaust made him an ideal candidate to design the Berlin museum, which opened in 2001. Its lightning bolt design was intended to integrate physically and spiritually the meaning of the Holocaust into the consciousness and memory of the city.
Imperial War Museum, Manchester
Intended to represent a globe shattered into fragments, the museum opened in 2002 and is made up of three interlocking shards designed to embody earth, air and water. Libeskind says on his website that the structure constitutes an iconic emblem of conflict.
Ground Zero, New York
New York city planners turned to Libeskind to regenerate Ground Zero following the al Qaeda terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Due to be completed by 2015, his designs include the 540m Freedom Tower, a visitor centre, an underground museum and four office blocks in a spiral.
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Drawing on his Jewish heritage, Libeskind designed the university's Wohl Centre, which was completed in 2005. The building contains a 1000-seat cantilevered auditorium and its jagged form is designed to resemble an open book. The exterior is mostly clad in lacquered golden aluminium sheets.
London Metropolitan University
Inspired by the Orion constellation, the university's new graduate centre was opened in 2004. Three dramatically intersecting blocks clad in stainless steel form a gateway to the campus on Holloway Road. Libeskind says the structure acts as a magnet to the university.
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