Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid, born in 1950 in Baghdad, studied mathematics at the American University in Beirut and architecture at the Architectural Association in London. After completing her studies, she founded an architectural office in London in 1980 and assumed a teaching position at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. In 1982 she won the British Architectural Design Gold Medal for the renovation of a townhouse in Eaton Place, London, succeeded by a first place award for the Peak Club in Hong Kong. Her competition entry for a building on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin won another first prize in 1986, followed by exhibitions of her work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the GA Gallery in Tokyo. The Museum of Modern Art in New York included Hadid's work in a group exhibition with Philip Johnson and Mark Wigley under the title 'Deconstructivist Architecture' in 1988. In 2004 she received the Pritzker Prize. Other honours include the Republic of France's Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, England's Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Japan's Praemium Imperiale, as well as the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Zaha Hadid passed away in 2016.

Project for Vitra:
1993 Vitra Fire Station on the Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, the first-ever built architectural work by Zaha Hadid