New York City is now the place where, for Daniel Libeskind, everybody knows your name. Including a bunch of guys sitting in a garage, talking about repair work.

It happened recently when a man on the street, recognizing Libeskind, asked if he could shake his hand. When the architect chosen to redesign ground zero obliged, the man said: "Could you please speak with my father?"

"Sure," Libeskind said. And with that, the man pulled out a cell phone and dialed his father.

The next thing Libeskind knew, he was "talking to a group of friends who were thinking of fixing up the garage. They were talking about architecture."

Libeskind related the story Tuesday in Denver, where he attended meetings before a site dedication today for the new Denver Art Museum wing.

The wave of celebrity is the outgrowth of interest in the process that resulted in Libeskind's selection as the designer to rebuild the site destroyed by terrorist attacks in September 2001.

The press has been enormous in New York, with topics ranging from the sociological implications of the Libeskind design to his cowboy boots and his heavy, horizontal eyeglasses.

His wife, Nina, concurred. "There's not a single block we walk without someone jumping out and saying, 'Mr. Libeskind, thank you for what you are doing.' Everyone has been nice."

In Denver, anonymity is more the rule. On Monday night, the Libeskinds drove straight from the airport to the new museum parking garage for a first look. But he was treated like any citizen.

"I had to pay. I said, 'I'm the architect,' and the guard said, 'Right.' "

So Libeskind paid his $4 and spent 10 minutes driving in the empty parking garage. And he kept the receipt: "I want to frame it."

Despite his project at the World Trade Center site, the couple's attention is focused on Denver, where Libeskind was chosen to design the 146,000-square-foot addition in the summer of 2000.

The New York and Denver processes taught Libeskind "how much fun it is to engage in a public forum. Every project should be like that."

After all, many people have a stake in ground zero's rebirth.

"People ask me, 'Who's your client?' " he said. "It's Americans. Every person has a stake in this project."

chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-2677.