Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre

The complex is crystalline in structure; a steel concrete skeleton supports the centre's wood façade.

This design evokes the erratic matrix of windows across Libeskind's first major international success, the Jewish Museum Berlin.

[2] Critics, such as David Rogers of the Los Angeles-based Jerde Partnership, have faulted Bern for neglecting to integrate such a shopping centre into the city's urban fabric.

[3] Defenders of Westside, such as Swiss architect Barbara Holzer, argue that Bern's urban centre is not under threat and that the shopping centre instead offers “new urban spaces.” Westside, with its blend of commercial, residential and recreational spaces, exemplifies populist architecture and emphasises public life.

[3] Peter Keller, of the Zürich newspaper, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, adds that the shopping centre suits its surrounding landscape and bears the striking signature of its architect.