Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid is an architect, designer and painter. She was born in Baghdad in Iraq in 1950, but she trained in London and graduated from the Architectural Association School in 1977. She was trained by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.  Today she has her own architect firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, in London.

Zaha Hadid's architecture is very untraditional and over time it has become highly acclaimed. She has received several international prizes for architecture. On 31 May 2004 Zaha Hadid became the first woman ever to receive the Pritzker Prize - the highest recognition in international architecture. Some years ago she was awarded the Mies Van der Rohe prize. 

Zaha Hadid's most well-known buildings include the Vitra Fire Station at Weil Am Reim in Germany (1993), which has become a cult attraction for architecture students. In more recent years Zaha Hadid has completed projects for various art museums, including the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, USA (1998) and Maxxi: The National Centre of Contemporary Arts, Rome, Italy. (2005).

Zaha Hadid's many advanced and innovative projects demonstrate a perception of space and shape as movement and progression. By decoding and interpreting the surroundings, she proceeds with a deconstructive strategy which results in very dramatic constructions. Just as the Ordrupgaard extension, her projects are always in contact with the relevant site, but they are also very much buildings which stand out from the crowd. 

See Zaha Hadid's current projects on her website: www.zaha-hadid.com.