Zaha Hadid, First Woman to Win the Pritzker Prize

Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950, Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win a Pritzker Architecture Prize AND the first woman to win a Royal Gold Medal in her own right. Her work experiments with new spatial concepts and encompasses all fields of design, ranging from urban spaces to products and furniture. At the age of 65, young for any architect, she died suddenly of a heart attack.

Background:

Born: October 31, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq

Died: March 31, 2016 in Miami Beach, Florida

Education:

• 1977: Diploma Prize, Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London
• Studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon prior to moving to London in 1972

Selected Projects:

From parking garages and ski-jumps to vast urban landscapes, Zaha Hadid's works have been called bold, unconventional, and theatrical. Zaha Hadid studied and worked under Rem Koolhaas, and like Koolhaas, she often brings a deconstructivist approach to her designs.

Since 1988, Patrik Schumacher had been Hadid's closest design partner. Schumacher is said to have coined the tern parametricism to describe the curvaceous, computer-aided designs of Zaha Hadid Architects. Since Hadid's death, Schumacher is leading the company to fully embrace parametric design in the 21st Century.

• 1993: A fire station for the Vitra Company in Weil am Rhein, Germany
• 2000: Inaugural Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, UK
• 2001: Terminus Hoenheim-Nord, a "park and ride" and tramway on the outskirts of Strasbourg, France
• 2002: Bergisel Ski Jump, Austria
• 2003: The Richard and Lois Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio
• 2005: Phæno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany
• 2008: Pedestrian Bridge and Exposition Pavilions, Zaragoza, Spain
• 2009: MAXXI: National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, Italy
• 2010: Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Abu Dhabi, UAE
• 2010: Guangzhou Opera House, China
• 2011: Riverside Museum of Transport, Glasgow, Scotland
• 2011: Aquatics Centre, London, United Kingdom; and post-Olympic reconfiguration in 2014
• 2011: CMA CGM Corporate Headquarters, Marseille, France
• 2012: Pierres Vives, Montpellier, France
• 2012: Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan
• 2012: Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing
• 2012: Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, China
• 2013: Hadid Residences for CityLife, Milan, Italy
• 2014: Messner Mountain Museum at Plan de Corones, South Tyrol, Italy
• 2017: Expected completion of Hadid Tower, office skyscraper for CityLife, Milan, Italy
• 2017: Expected completion of One Thousand Museum Condos, Miami, Florida
• 2022: (proposed) al-Wakrah Stadium, Qatar

Other Works:

Zaha Hadid is also known for her exhibition designs, stage sets, furniture, paintings, drawings, and shoe designs.

Partnerships:

• Zaha Hadid worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with her former teachers, Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis
• In 1979, Zaha Hadid opened her own practice, Zaha Hadid Architects. Patrik Schumacher joined her in 1988.

"Working with senior office partner, Patrik Schumacher, Hadid's interest lies in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape, and geology as her practice integrates natural topography and human-made systems, leading to experimentation with cutting-edge technologies. Such a process often results in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms."—Resnicow Schroeder

Major Awards and Honors:

• 1982: Gold Medal Architectural Design, British Architecture for 59 Eaton Place, London
• 2000: Honourable Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 2002: Commander of the British Empire
• 2004: Pritzker Architecture Prize
• 2010, 2011: Stirling Prize, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
• 2012: Order of the British Empire, Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to Architecture
• 2016: Royal Gold Medal, RIBA

Learn More:

• Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win a Pritzker Architecture Prize. Learn more from Citation from the 2004 Pritzker Prize Jury.
• Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion by Kathryn B. Hiesinger (Philadelphia Museum of Art), Yale University Press, 2011 (catalog of commercial designs, made between 1995 and 2011)
• Zaha Hadid: Minimum Series by Margherita Guccione, 2010
• Zaha Hadid and Suprematism, Exhibition Catalog, 2012
• Zaha Hadid: Complete Works

^{Source: Resnicow Schroeder biography, 2012 press release at resnicowschroeder.com/rsa/upload/PM/645_Filename_BIO%20-%20Zaha%20Hadid%20Oct%202012.pdf [accessed November 16, 2012]}