British-Iraqi Architect's Barcelona Coup

The British-Iraqi designer Zaha Hadid has joined the rush of architects to Spain, to create an emblematic tower block in Barcelona along with major buildings in Seville and Zaragoza.

Ms Hadid, winner of the Pritzker prize for architecture in 2004, is to design the Spiralling Tower overlooking Barcelona's waterfront at a site where the city held a cultural fair last year.

Described by one commentator as "like a pile of Liquorice Allsorts on top of one another", the tower block in contrasting colours will be the centrepiece of Barcelona's new university campus.

The 11-storey building, with its irregularly aligned floors, sea views and large open roof and terrace spaces, will be completed within 18 months, according to Barcelona's mayor, Joan Clos.

The Spiralling Tower will add to Barcelona's ever-increasing stock of buildings by major architects, with a triangular pavilion by fellow Pritzker winners Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron a close neighbour.

Other Pritzker winners to have worked in the city over the past 20 years include Sir Norman Foster, Richard Meier, Frank O Gehry and Rafael Moneo.

France's Jean Nouvel has four projects going in a city which critics suggest is starting to look too much like a sculpture park for buildings.

The passion for architecture is also obvious in the number of architects graduating from local universities. City authorities recently claimed that Barcelona had 5,400 homegrown architects - more than those registered in New York City.

Ms Hadid's Barcelona commission comes a few months after she won a competition to design the new university library in Seville, southern Spain. "It is rather like a spaceship on the point of take-off," El Pais newspaper said of the library design.

The two commissions follow an order from Zaragoza, central Spain, for a bridge-pavilion over the River Duero, to be the entry point to the international expo to be held in the city in 2008.