The new $40 million Laban Center for dance opens in London. “It was nonetheless a daring gamble for a small, relatively unknown institution to embark on building what it claims is the world’s largest purpose-built dance center. In the design competition Herzog & de Meuron was apparently chosen because it heeded the demands of the school. “We told them that the heart of our work is theater so the theater should be at the center. Of the six short-listed firms, Herzog & de Meuron was the only one to place the theater in the center of the building.”