Architects may see a dreamy parallel to Le Corbusier's concrete 1950's apartment-block housing in Marseille, raised up on rows of streamlined columns. Yet Ms. Hadid's design draws as much on the serpentine freeways of Los Angeles and postwar Europe's industrial landscape as it does on such High Modernist precedents. Its imposing, muscular forms celebrate the heroic large-scale urban infrastructure of an earlier era, allowing us to see it with fresh eyes.

The building sits on concrete cones. Some serve to populate the public space with amenities. The largest of them is the main entrance, and others are structural supports with open tops, also used as a means of bringing daylight into the centre. It is a space as powerful as the landscape that awaits you once you take the escalators up into the main gallery above. The interior is a vast open area, entirely free of conventional structural walls.

The cones, unstable by themselves, are locked in place by the weight of the building which they support. They allow for space to bubble and blister, creating double-height rooms and turning floors into walls. Soaring across the whole is the razor-sharp steel structure of the roof, which contrasts with the sand dune-like organic forms below.

Still, the connection between this sublime space and its contents is perfunctory. But the mismatch between architecture and exhibits will not hinder the centre's success. The scientific exhibits are clearly engaging and informative, even if they are unlovely. Thankfully, they are not designed to be permanent. And the architecture will remain powerful long after.