Though he did not know it then, it was that emotional moment when the Libeskinds arrived on a ship in New York Harbour that was eventually to win him the biggest architectural prize in the world. His description of that moment of arrival at the age of 13 drew applause when he first presented his Ground Zero scheme last December and explained how the key building in his plans, the world's tallest skyscraper topped with a slender tower of internal gardens, was inspired by the Statue of Liberty bearing her torch aloft. By coincidence, the Libeskind's own younger daughter, Rachel, will also be 13 when she accompanies her parents from Berlin to their new home.

During the tortuous and highly political process of negotiation and refinement that followed, Libeskind was always at his best when appealing directly to the people. His approach worked because Ground Zero does not have a conventional client figure at its head- many people, all with different interests, are involved, not least the families of the victims of 9/11. This had become a project where officialdom stood back and gauged the public response. And the public responded well to Danny and his ebullient sincerity. Against the advice of their own officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation - who preferred Vinoly - New York Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg trusted to their own gut instincts and selected Libeskind.

As the American media came to realize, Libeskind is not just an intellectual and a charmer. He is also a streetfighter. When he found himself on the shortlist for the competition, he based himself in New York's Four Seasons Hotel and spent every available moment promoting his scheme to whoever would listen. When he won last Thursday, he followed up his walk to the podium ("a tremendously profound and moving moment", he said) with a typically full-throttle presentation of his scheme, waving his arms like a conductor and earning the soubriquet in the press of "Libeskind the charismatic salesman". Others see it differently. Britain's fastest-rising star architect, David Adjaye, described Libeskind the day before the announcement as "the hope candidate". This is reinforced by Nina Libeskind's description of the project as "an optimistic reaffirmation of life".