Zaha Hadid is an Iraqi-British architect known for her experimental deconstructivist style that pushes boundaries. She consistently creates visionary designs that intensify urban landscapes with flowing forms. Notable projects include the Vitra Fire Station in Germany, the Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, and ephemeral pavilions for Chanel. Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize and is renowned for redefining architecture and challenging traditional design.

1. ZAHA HADID
Winter 2011
ID103
Presentation by Diana Vichitthavong

2. Zaha Hadid is an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design.
Her work experiments with new spatial concepts intensifying existing urban landscapes in the pursuit of a
visionary aesthetic that encompasses all fields of design, ranging from urban scale through to products,
interiors and furniture.

3. ZAHA HADID
London Based Architectural designer
Born in Baghdad, Iraq
October 31 1950
Graduated from the Architectural Association School 1977 (Diploma Prize)
Awards
2003-Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary architecture from the European union
2004- Pritzker Architecture Prize (architecture highest honour, first woman to ever win that prize)
“Although her body of work is
relatively small , she has
achieved great acclaim and her
energy and ideas show even
greater promise for the
future” Thomas J. Prizker
Been asked what it’s like to be a female Architect:
“I think it shows that you can actually
break through the glass ceiling” Zaha
Hadid (Finanical Times)

4. CAREER
•After she graduated she worked with Rem Koolhaas
•Started her own firm in 1980
•Her Ideas were in more of demand than her designs
•She won many competitions but a lot of them were never
built
•Despite her influences, was often dismissed as a dreamer,
whose work was unrealizable and impractical
•She taught at the Architecture Association
•Almost wanted to give up Architecture after facing a huge
rejection for her design for the Cardiff Bay Opera House in
Wales.
•Her design was chosen but local opinion ran against it so it
was rejected basically because it wasn’t traditional enough.
(1994)
•She has been known as DIVA and difficult to work with at
WOULD THEY CALL ME A times, but people who admire her would praise her for her
personal style.
DIVA
IF I WERE A GUY?

5. ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
DECONSTRCTIVISM MOVEMENT
Deconstructivism, or Deconstruction, is an approach to building design
that attempts to view architecture in bits and pieces. The basic elements
of architecture are dismantled. Deconstructivist buildings may seem to
have no visual logic. They may appear to be made up of unrelated,
disharmonious abstract forms. Deconstructive ideas are borrowed from
the French philosopher Jacques Derrida

6. Philosophy
"I'm trying to discover - invent, I suppose -
an architecture, and forms of urban
planning, that do something of the same
thing in a contemporary way. I started out
trying to create buildings that would sparkle
like isolated jewels; now I want them to
connect, to form a new kind of landscape, to
flow together with contemporary cities and
the lives of their peoples.“ - Zaha Hadid

7. Through Sketching
She lets the movement of the hand determine the form
And is trying not draw something pre figured.

8. VITRA FIRE STATION
“SINCE THERE ARE 360
DEGREES, SHE SEES NO
REASON TO RESTRICT
HERSELF TO JUST ONE”
1993 she completed what became her first signature project in Germany for the Vitra Furniture Compnany.
The angular building is now a museum.

9. CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Professional breakthrough came in 2003 with the
successful construction of her challenging design for
the museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.
This was her first building in the United States.
Which made her become known internationally.

10. Karl Lagerfeld, Creative Director for
Chanel, personally sought Zaha for
her vision and sense of style.

11. CHANEL MOIBLE ART PAVILLION
Location: Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, Paris
Materials: Fibre Re-inforced Plastic, Structural Steel
•Chanel Pavilion is a celebration of the iconic work of
Chanel
•the steel structure has been designed to be built in
under one week, which is essential for an ephemeral
pavilion.

12. 1
3
2
1. ABU DHABI PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE-Dhabi
2. BEETHOVEN CONCERT HALL- Germany
3. JS BASH CHAMBER MUSIC HALL- UK
4. RABAT GRAND THEATHRE- Morocco
4

13. Product designs
1. Limited Edition LACOSTE shoe (2009)
2. Louis Vittion ICONE BAG (2006)
3. Skein Sleeve Bracelet (2009)
4. Zcar II (2008)
1 2
3 4

14. 1977 Graduation Project, a hotel on London’s
Hungerford bridge was called
MALEVICH’S TECTONIK
After the suprematist Kasimir Malevich who wrote in
1928:
“we can only perceive space when we break free from
the earth, when the point of support disappears.”
Zaha Hadid’s architecture follows suit, creating a
landscape which metaphorically, and perhaps, one
day literally..seem to take off.

15. Sometimes been compared to Frank Lloyd Wright for her futuristic designs and
her visionary rethinking of the relationship between humans and buildings
Zaha Hadid has defined a radically new approach to architecture by creating
buildings with multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the
chaos of modern life.

16. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRS
arJSj0rM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwLI
5W5Wh4I
www.zaha-hadid.com