THE North’s leading university is angling for success with a striking new £10m building designed by the world-leading architect behind New York’s Ground Zero.

Durham University has today (Friday, January 10) unveiled plans for its Daniel Libeskind-designed Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics.

A spokeswoman said it was a “unique design” reflecting the international standing of the Centre’s two research institutes, giving a “clear and recognisable identity in the context of Durham’s unique architectural heritage”.

Staff, students and residents will be able to give their views at consultation events later this month.

The University has enjoyed a mixed response to its building work in recent years.

Its new £50m headquarters was dubbed a monstrous townscape disaster by the City of Durham Trust but has also won a string of awards.

The new Ogden Centre, on South Road, Durham, would replace the existing facility opened in 2002.

The consultation events will be held in the nearby Calman Learning Centre on January 16 and 22, from 6pm to 8pm.

Meanwhile, the University has been promised £4.85m towards the scheme, £3.35m from the Ogden Trust and £1.5m from the Wolfson Foundation.

Vice-chancellor Professor Chris Higgins said: “Durham is at the forefront of physics in Europe and these transformational gifts will ensure that we remain leaders in unravelling the secrets of the Universe.”

Professor Martin Ward, head of the physics department, said: “The new building will provide a tremendously stimulating environment and foster even closer synergies between the two institutes’ research areas.”

Mr Libeskind has also designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, Denver Art Museum and the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre in Hong Kong and is known for his radical, angular structures.

Research at the Ogden Centre, which includes the Institute for Computational Cosmology and the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, is at the cutting edge of world physics, probing the fundamental properties of the Universe from the smallest elementary particles to the to entire cosmos.