Mecanoo has been named the winner, beating off competition from fellow Dutch stars OMA along with Foster & Partners, Foreign Office Architects, Hopkins, Wilkinson Eyre and Schmidt Hammer Lassen.

The scheme will replace John Madin's Central Library, and will also provide facilities for Birmingham Repertory Theatre as part of a new cultural centre in Centenary Square, which the council hopes will spark an architectural renaissance in the city.

It is expected to open to the public by 2013.

Mecanoo, based in the city of Delft, has previously designed many library, learning and arts centre buildings, including one in Switzerland which revolves at the same speed as Earth.