Zaha Hadid

Iraq

Person

Designer

Born 31 October 1950 Baghdad, Iraq Died 31 March 2016 Miami, Florida, USA Zaha Hadid studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut until 1971 and architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1972 to 1977. From 1977 to 1980, she was a partner at Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam and taught at the AA School from 1977 to 1987. In 1979, she founded Zaha Hadid Architects in London. From 1985, she expanded her practice to furniture and product design, creating works such as Woush and the Wavy and Red sofas for Edra. International recognition followed in 1988 with her participation in the exhibition 'Deconstructivist Architecture' at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her first completed building was the Fire Station on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, finished in 1993. Major projects included Landscape Formation One for 'Grün 99' in Weil am Rhein, the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, MAXXI in Rome, and the London Aquatics Centre. In 2004, she became the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize, followed by the Praemium Imperiale in 2009 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2016.