Architect Daniel Libeskind has been chosen to design a landmark building for Essex University.

The star architect, who designed the masterplan for the new World Trade Center in New York, will design a building for the new Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (IDCR) at the university鈥檚 Colchester Campus. Libeskind studied for a master鈥檚 degree in the history and theory of architecture at the University of Essex in the seventies.

The building will be used for research, training, lectures, seminars and consultancy activities, and will feature a room designed to allow participants to take part in simulated court proceedings.

Todd Landman, director of the IDCR, said: 鈥淲e are delighted that Daniel Libeskind has been chosen to design the iconic building we need to expand and develop our embryonic work. The building will evoke a powerful reaction from visitors, while conveying the seriousness and purpose of an international institute.鈥�

鈥淚t is an honour to be involved in a project with such visionary humanitarian objectives,鈥� said Libeskind. 鈥淚 have always believed that democratic openness and conflict resolution is critical not only in the political sphere but in the making of architectural space.鈥�