Zaha Hadid died on March 31, 2016. You may not know her name, but you have seen her work.
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| Typical Architect Coat. Greg loved those. |
Zaha was an amazing architect. She was also a Muslim woman, an immigrant, working in a man's field. (
Born in Iraq in 1950; attended the US University in Beirut, Lebanon; migrated and naturalized as a UK citizen; taught in the UK and US (Harvard)).
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| BMW "new" Headquarters, where the production lines runs through the offices! |
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There have been other excellent female architect's, they just normally don't get the same fame as men (ex. Julia Morgan or Denise Scott Brown). Zaha's work was so unique that it demanded attention in it's own right.
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In many ways, Zaha reminds me of Frank Gehry, in that their buildings could not have been done before computers. Her early works where of the post-modern geometric conglomerations that also typified Gehry's work.
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| Cincinnati Arts Center |
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| Evelyn Grace Academy - Brixton UK |
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Once the full horse power of the computer came online, she was able to translate her organic sensibility into structure. Some of these are quite famous.
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| Phaeno Science Center - Germany |
The London Swim Stadium for the 2012 Olympics.
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| Inside the stadium |
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| The outside of the Stadium |
The new Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku Azerbaijan.
Note: Baku has tons of great new architecture. They spent oil money like drunk sailors after the breakup of the USSR.
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| Looks as if it is rising directly from the earth. |
Finally (here - not timewise), she created stations for Innsbruck Austria funicular / railway. They are gorgeous and I want to go see those too! (As Phil Dumphy says on Modern Family - "I can't think of things I don't want!")
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She leaves a legacy of work and a legacy of achievement for women and immigrants everywhere.
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| Her condos on the New York Highline. They are in progress and probably 70% complete. |
