So while it might not set the world alight, it does something good for the Holloway Road. Speaking as a pedestrian fan of this bustling downmarket thoroughfare with its eccentric mix of uses, I must admit that it needs all the aesthetic help it can get. One thing you can say in its favour is that it is an utterly eclectic bit of London. There is no Holloway Road uniform style. It's got a bit of everything, from the exuberant Edwardian baroque of Islington's main library to the 1930s Gaumont Deco of what is now the Odeon. In places it is agoraphobically wide, in other places quite narrow. With Mather's addition and now Libeskind's, the LMU is starting to become a memorable incident on this journey. The Libeskind building would not be enough on its own, but set against the bulk of the towers, it gives the complex some visual coherence.

More to the point, it is down at eye level, poised by the roadside as if about to nose out into the traffic, indicators flashing. If you are leaving London, its shimmering perforated stainless-steel flanks point the way (let's hope they stay shiny). If you are arriving, that jutting façade acts as - well, not so much a gateway, more a 21st century tollbooth on the ancient turnpike. We all have familiar markers we measure our journeys by. This is one of those, and it is better than most. Now then: can we please get on with building the V&A's Spiral?