Aha Zaha!
You may not be familiar with her name, but I would imagine you have seen some of her architectural work somewhere around the world. Zaha Hadid, born in Iraq in1950, was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist and politician, who gave her an education in England Switzerland and Lebanon, amongst others. Her career, largely based in the UK and America, spanned the entire world.
The list of her achievements is staggering. Zaha was the first woman to receive the Oscar-of-the-architectural-world, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, UK’s most prestigious architectural accolade, the Stirling Prize (three times), the Royal Gold Medal from the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and in 2012 was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II. And then she died.
Her death in 2016 at the age of 65 was a shock to everyone, as she was still a vibrant and prolific principal of her own practice, Zaha Hadid Architects, with many international projects on the go. She once said, sadly, upon reflection, that “architecture requires 100% dedication. If it doesn’t kill you, then you’re no good”.
Forbes List named her as one of the most powerful women in 2013, pretty good for an architect who rose so spectacularly in her career, only to suffer a heart attack during a hospital stay for bronchitis.
She was not only a unique architect, but a hugely respected and devoted teacher of architecture, in the UK, USA and Germany. Add to this her brilliance in art, creating intricately detailed drawings, sketches and paintings. In 1988 she was chosen to be one of only seven architects to exhibit her artwork at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, an exhibition curated by the famous and infamous Philip Johnson along with Mark Wigley. When designing her buildings she would place extreme focus on detailed sketches to illustrate how a building will rise up, yet not be particularly bothered about details such as staircases – she was Big Picture, presuming that the small stuff would sort itself out!
She was often described as the Queen of Curves but she baulked at being described or introduced as a female architect – she preferred to be known simply as an architect. Having said that, Zaha once said, “For a woman to go out alone in architecture is still very, very hard. It is still a man’s world. As a woman in architecture, you're always an outsider. It's OK, I like being on the edge”. Brave words from a brave architect whose probably most famous line was, “You have to really believe not only in yourself; you have to believe that the world is actually worth your sacrifices”.
So, what is so special about her approach to architecture and design? It’s her ability to create a building as an art form, a cross between abstract and brutalist, cartoon-like curves, huge expanses of glazing and building forms that seem to defy logic. They have fluidity and a connection with a weird sort of geometry and engineering; this is what sets her work apart from many other starchitects. Zaha once said, “I don't design nice buildings - I don't like them. I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthy quality”. She also explained, "The idea is not to have any 90-degree angles”. Sounds so logical, doesn’t it?