Zaha Hadid, the founding partner of Zaha Hadid Architects, was awarded with the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered to be the Nobel Prize for architecture) in 2004 and she is known internationally for her theoretical and academic work.
All of her dynamic and innovative projects are stem from over thirty years of revolutionary experimentation and research in the inter-related sectors of urbanism, architecture and design.
Having received international recognition thanks to her many projects and strong expressive ability, Zaha Hadid is known as an extremely innovative architect who is always putting the confines of architecture and design to the test. Working with senior office partner Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid’s interest is aimed at the strict interface between architecture, landscape and geology. In fact the studio’s integrates natural topography with manmade systems that lead to experimentation with vanguard technologies.
This process frequently gives rise to unusual and dynamic architectural forms that are shaped by the reality of the site or building requirements. The BMW Central Building in Leipzig and the Phaeno Science Museum in Wolfsburg Germany are excellent examples of her research on complex, fluid and dynamic spaces. Earlier innovative buildings such as the Vitra Fire Station and the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati demonstrate how architecture transforms our vision of the future combining it with new spatial concepts and bold, visionary forms. Currently Zaha Hadid Architects are working on a number of projects including: the general plan and the tower for the Milan Fair, the Aquatic Centre for the Olympic Games in London 2012, the Performing Arts Centre in Abu Dhabi; the Signature Towers in Dubai, high speed train stations in Naples and Durango, the CMA CGM office tower in Marseille, Opera Houses in Dubai and China, the Museum of Nuragic and Contemporary Art in Sardinia, private homes in Moscow and the United States and other important projects of various kinds in Bilbao, Istanbul and the Middle East.
The studio has an interesting relationship with technical innovations: 3D modelling, thermoforming and solid surfaces are used in the development and construction of exhibition structures and products such as Ice-Storm at MAK, Vienna (2003), Aqua Table for Est. & Sons (2005), the Vortexx Chandelier for Sawaya & Moroni (2005), Elastika at Design 05 in Miami Beach, a series of structures to exhibit the Deutsche Bank collection (2005-06), the Louis Vuitton ‘Icone’ bag (2006), the Seamless Collection for Est. & Sons (2006), Dune Formations for the David Gill Galleries (2007) and the Mesa table for Vitra (2007), which all contributed to the development of fluid architectural structures that are highly dynamic and complex. Zaha Hadid’s work over the past 30 years was the subject of a critically acclaimed retrospective exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2006 which was repeated last summer at the Design Museum in London. The railway station in Nordpark Innsbruck opened in December 2007 while the mobile pavilion for Chanel Mobile Art was launched in Hong Kong during March 2008. Hadid’s innovative project for the Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion opened in the month of June 2008. In 2009 her revolutionary design for MAXXI the National Museum of Arts for the 21st Century will be unveiled in Rome as will the Opera House in Guangzhou, China.
