Hadid, Zaha (1950-2016), an Iraqi-born British architect, became in 2004 the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The prize is the most prestigious international award in architecture (see Pritzker Architecture Prize). Hadid gained international recognition for her visionary designs that reflect major art movements of the 1900’s, especially the Russian movement called Suprematism. Hadid’s designs show the Suprematist influence in their fragmented geometric forms that define the surrounding space in highly imaginative ways.
Many of Hadid’s projects were so daring they have never been built. They exist as paintings and drawings, which have been praised as distinctive works of art in themselves. The works that have been built include a number of notable structures, such as the Vitra fire station (1993) in Weil am Rhein, Germany; a parking garage and railroad station (2001) on the outskirts of Strasbourg, France; the Bergisel Ski Jump (2002) near Innsbruck, Austria; the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (2003) in Cincinnati; the Phaeno Science Center (2005) in Wolfsburg, Germany; and the “Spittelau viaduct” housing project (2005) in Vienna, Austria.
Hadid’s later projects include Maxxi (2009), a museum of contemporary art in Rome; the Evelyn Grace Academy (2010), a school for underprivileged children in London; an opera house (2010) in Guangzhou, China; the Riverside Museum (2011), which contains a collection of historic vehicles, in Glasgow, Scotland; the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (2012) at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan; the Heydar Aliyev cultural center (2012) in Baku, Azerbaijan; the Serpentine North art gallery (2013) in London; and the terminal of the Daxing International Airport (2019) in Beijing. Hadid designed the Aquatics Center for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She also designed exhibitions and interiors, such as the “Mind Zone” interior for the Millennium Dome in London in 1999.
Hadid was born on Oct. 31, 1950, in Baghdad, Iraq. From 1972 to 1977, she studied at the Architectural Association in London. She then worked in the office of the noted architects Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis until she established her own office in London in 1979. Hadid taught at the Architectural Association from 1980 to 1987 and was a visiting professor at Harvard University. Hadid also designed furniture and sets for the theater. In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II made Hadid a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to architecture. Hadid died on March 31, 2016.
