Zaha Hadid 1950-2016
Dame Zaha Hadid, award winning architect and pioneer, has died aged 65.
Hadid was widely regarded as the leading female architect in the world today. Born in Baghdad in 1950, she studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut, before staring her architectural journey in 1972 at the Architectural Association in London.
By 1979 she had established her own practice in London – Zaha Hadid Architects – garnering a reputation across the world for her groundbreaking theoretical works including The Peak in Hong Kong (1983), the Kurfüstendamm in Berlin (1986) and the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales (1994).
Working with office partner Patrik Schumacher, her interest was in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology; which her practice integrates with the use of innovative technologies often resulting in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms.
Hadid’s first major built commission, one that affirmed her international recognition, was the Vitra Fire Station in Well Am Rhein, followed by various notable hotel projects including Malevich’s Tektonik and Hotel Puerta America. On-going projects include: City of Dreams Hotel Tower, Macau; ME by Meliá Dubai at The Opus; Sunrise Tower, Kuala Lumpur; and D-Villa, Turks and Caicos Islands.
In 2004, Hadid became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She twice won the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Stirling Prize: in 2010 for the MAXXI Museum in Rome; and the Evelyn Grace Academy. Other awards include the Republic of France’s Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Japan’s Praemium Imperiale and in 2012, Hadid was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She was also made Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture.
Hadid was recently awarded the RIBA’s 2016 Royal Gold Medal, the first woman to be awarded the prestigious honour in her own right. She commented: “We now see more established female architects all the time. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Sometimes the challenges are immense. There has been tremendous change over recent years and we will continue this progress.”
