The architect won the competition to design a humanities facility over rivals David Chipperfield, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Wilkinson Eyre.

The development will be part of the masterplan designed for the site by architects Rafael Viñoly.

The new development will provide a home for most of the faculties in the Humanities, and will offer teaching facilities, dedicated graduate space and academic offices, as well as space for visiting scholars and research projects.

At the centre of the development will be a new humanities library, which will bring together holdings from faculty libraries, currently spread across the city. It will also include lecture theatres, and seminar and conference space, as well as cafes and space for art exhibitions, screenings of films and musical performances.

It is anticipated that the development will be delivered in two phases, with the first phase to be completed by mid 2012. The first phase will include the faculties of English, History, Philosophy and Theology.

A spokesperson for the University of Oxford said: “The University has been hugely impressed by the effort made by the architects and the quality of ideas from each practice. The architects went through a rigorous selection process over several months including visits to their offices by the Project Sponsor Group, building visits, user group workshops and finally interviews.”