*Image from the website of Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid was a trailblazing architect who revolutionized the field with her groundbreaking designs. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1950, Hadid studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before moving to London to attend the Architectural Association School of Architecture. She graduated in 1977 and founded her own firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, in 1979.
Despite being the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 2004, Hadid initially had a difficult time getting her designs built. The curves and planes of her beautiful drawings defied gravity and impossible to constructed into actual buildings. However, as building technology eventually caught up to her vision, Hadid’s designs started to be embraced by cities and countries who took bold steps to finance her fantastical vision. Hadid died relatively young in 2016 at the age 65, before she was able to fully experience what was to become her legacy.
For more information on Zaha Hadid, check out her firm’s website.
For books about her life and work, checkout Zaha Hadid: The Complete Buildings and Projects Paperback – October 15, 1998
Have you ever wondered about how many buildings designed by Zaha Hadid were actually built? Here is a map that pinpoints the 46 buildings that were finished or in the process of being completed. There are other design of hers that were commissioned but never realized. Still more were proposed and may still be built yet. Click on a purple dots on this map to see an image of the fantastical building, and some quick information about the building.
*This map was made using Google My Maps and and data from Wikipedia