The London Metropolitan University Post Graduate Centre, to be completed in 2003, is designed by Daniel Libeskind, the winner of the competition to build the new World Trade Center in New York. The Libeskind studio received the commission for the complete architectural design of the Orion project from inception to completion, plus the landscape design and the design of fixtures. The guiding idea of the project is provided by the spatial emblem of the Northern sky, the Orion constellation. The Orion project aims to provide a landmark attracting visitors to the cultural programme within by its articulated forms.
The three intersecting elements that form the building strategically emphasise certain relationships: one creates a connection between the public, the new building and the university behind, one form gestures from the university toward the tube connection to the city and one more regular form stitches the new building into the context of Holloway Road. A small plaza at the entrance provides an accent and an engaging gateway.
The building is clad entirely with embossed coloured stainless steel panels creating a shining and ever-changing surface. Windows are conceived as large geometrical cuts providing accentuated natural light for the café, galleries and seminars.
The structural engineering is by Cadogan Tietz; the mechanical, electrical and drainage elements by the WSP Group.
