Zaha Hadid Architects broke ground today on the new Middle East Center of St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. The new 1,200-square-meter (12,917-square-foot) structure—which will serve as a bridge between two existing, historic campus buildings—will house a new library and archive, replete with stacks and reading rooms, as well as a small auditorium and café. Clad in stainless steel, the building allows daylight to penetrate the interior through a series of skylights above the second-floor reading room and a large expanse of frameless glass that faces the academic quad. The bridging building allows for expansion of the Middle East Center’s archives—which date back to the early 19th century—currently housed in the two existing buildings it connects.
For more details and images of the Middle East Center at St. Antony’s College, visit ARCHITECT‘s Project Gallery.
