Pritzker Prize-Winning Architect Zaha Hadid's Crafts Designs That Go With The Flow

“My ambition has always been to create fluid space,” says Iraqi‐born British architect Zaha Hadid. “Our clients have always been very interested in applying new design, construction and material technologies to improve living and working conditions, as well as to enhance communication and interaction between the users of a building. Architecture does not follow fashion, political or economic cycles – it follows the inherent logic of cycles of innovation generated by social and technological developments – and buildings must evolve with new patterns of life to meet the needs of its users. What is new in our generation are the much greater levels of social complexity and connectivity. With over 50 percent of the world’s growing population now living in cities, contemporary urbanism and architecture must move beyond the outdated 20^th-century architecture of square blocks and repetition towards architecture for the 21^st-century that manages the increasing complexities, dynamism and densities of our lives today. Consequently, my work is operating with concepts, logic and methods that examine and organize the complexities of our lives today. People ask, ‘Why are there no 90 degrees in your work?’ This is because life is not made in a grid. If you think of a natural landscape, it’s not even and regular – but people go to these places and think it’s very natural, very relaxing. I think that one can do that in architecture.”

Hadid doesn’t believe in straight lines and rectangular design, but her works radically reinterpret the spaces we occupy. Advancing an architecture that is intuitive, daring, international and dynamic, her past 36 years have been an exploration of systems of continuous transformations and smooth transitions. Take for example her Mobile Art Pavilion for Chanel. Not the traditional white cube exhibition space composed of lines and symmetry, the spaceship-like sculpture-building instead proposes organic logic – curves, spirals and unevenness abound – and encourages multiple viewpoints, where it’s not just about looking but a complete sensory experience. Changing our perception of space, it becomes an entire landscape to wander around in a completely unexpected way. Then there’s her MAXXI National Museum of 21^st Century Arts in Rome, Italy, organized and navigated on the basis of directional drifts and the distribution of densities, which encompasses both overlapping tendril-like paths and open spaces with walls that constantly intersect and separate. Not to be considered just one building but several, the goal was to move away from the idea of “the museum as an object” and towards the idea of a “field of buildings”. The conventional museum wall also transforms into a versatile engine for the staging of exhibition effects – solid surface, projection screen, canvas or window to the city – and becomes the primary space-making device. Further departures from classical composition take place where the walls become floors, twist to become ceilings or are voided to become large windows.

At the age of 64, Hadid is one of the world’s most sought-after architects and the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the Nobel Prize of architecture) in 2004. Her three-decade-long career has been the subject of retrospectives at the Guggenheim Museum and MOMA in New York, the Design Museum and Tate Modern in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua. She has been honored with the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, the Stirling Prize from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government, and Time magazine named her one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2010.

Born in Baghdad in 1950, Hadid studied at the American University of Beirut before moving to London in 1972 to attend the Architectural Association, then founded Zaha Hadid Architects in 1979. Her earliest memory of architecture was when she was six years old. Her aunt was having a house built in Mosul in the north of Iraq, and the architect was her father’s close friend who used to come over to their house with the drawings and models. She recalls, “I remember seeing the model in our living room and I think it triggered something, as I was intrigued by it. As a child, I travelled with my family each summer, and my father made sure I went to every important building and museum in each city. I remember going as a child to see the Great Mosque in Cordoba; I was seven years old, and that was the most stunning space. Of course, there are lots of other truly great spaces, but this building left a really tremendous impact on me. When I was growing up in Iraq, there was an unbroken belief in progress and a great sense of optimism. If you look back to the 1960s, it was a moment of nation-building: there was a lot of emphasis on architecture, not only in the Arab world but also in South America and Asia. The ideas of progress and innovation of this era were critical to my development, and this ideology was important to me and my work.”

Best known for her highly-acclaimed Vitra Fire Station (her first completed building in 1993) and BMW Central Building in Germany, Bergisel Ski Jump in Austria, Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in the United States and Guangzhou Opera House in China – with its unique twin-boulder design evolved from the interplay between architecture and nature, engaging with principles of erosion, geology and topography, particularly influenced by river valleys, thereby cutting dramatic interior and exterior canyons for circulation and allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the building – which have been hailed as architecture that transforms our ideas of the future, Hadid has also been incredibly active in the Middle East. Her Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi proposes a structure in the shape of a sinusoidal wave with steel arches that rise from mass concrete piers asymmetrically. Her Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut “floats” many of its facilities above the entrance courtyard to preserve the existing landscape and is defined by intersecting routes, views and connections with the rest of the campus to create an environment for the exchange of ideas. Inspired by the traditional dhow – an Arabian pearl fishing sailboat – her Al Wakrah Stadium in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup reflects the port town’s fishing and seafaring heritage, thereby establishing a relationship with the city and its surrounding landscape.

Now Hadid’s attention is firmly turned towards her homeland. Commissioned to design her first two projects in her country of birth – the Iraq Parliament building in Baghdad and the Central Bank of Iraq Headquarters tower, whose façade is composed of an alternating pattern of open and closed elements that visually and conceptually mirror the light reflecting off the Tigris River below, which has shaped the city’s past and continues to define its present and future – she is looking forward to her first trip back after more than 30 years away. “Unfortunately, I have no family left in Iraq,” she notes. “My parents are no longer alive, so when I return, it will be very emotional for me as I still remember my days in Iraq with my family. I am deeply touched and very happy to be contributing to rebuilding Iraq. The country requires so much more than individual buildings; it needs well-conceived urban planning with effective public institutions, housing, schools, hospitals and major infrastructure as well. The Iraqi Parliament and Central Bank will be two of these vital public institutions that encourage stability and facilitate further investment and development for the people of Iraq.”

In Baku, Azerbaijan, Hadid completed the Heydar Aliyev Center in 2012. The mixed-use cultural center steers clear from the capital’s usual rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture to make way for elaborate formations like undulations, bifurcations, folds and inflections. The idea was to achieve a continuous homogenous building skin surface and large-scale column-free spaces that allow the visitor to experience the fluidity of the interior in a celebration of contemporary and traditional Azeri culture. It might be hard for Hadid to justify building in a nation plagued by human rights abuses and allegations of corruption and torture, but she feels it’s important to construct civic facilities for all sectors of society, which are meant to lift people up and connect them to the rest of the world. An optimist rather than an opportunist, she views architecture as a universal humanist asset and not merely a political tool for clients.

By designing buildings for democracies and dictatorships alike in the belief that innovative architecture can inspire and engage people, Hadid has opened herself up to criticism. She explains why she has no qualms designing for oppressive regimes if it helps the population, “Part of architecture’s job is to make people feel good in the spaces where we live, go to school or where we work, and we must be committed to raising standards. Ultimately, architecture is all about well-being – the creation of pleasant and stimulating settings for all aspects of life – but it is also important to build projects that give uplifting experiences that inspire, excite and enthuse. We are building cultural and civic institutions that are open for the people. They are forums for the exchange of ideas that feed the vitality and diversity of each city. They unite the city and tie the urban fabric together. And by the very nature of their civic and cultural importance, they are open to everyone, which helps to eliminate segregation and divisions in cities.This connection with public life is critical, and what really differentiates the 21^st century from the previous centuries is that cities today are so much more diverse and must cater for a whole range of people with different cultures, experiences and influences. The client is no longer a single person – the client is actually everyone. This has been really exciting and adds to the richness of space.”

Each of Hadid’s projects is the result of context, local culture, programmatic requirements and innovative engineering coming together, where architecture, landscape and city combine, both in terms of formal strategy and spatial experience. Her designs form new public spaces where concepts of seamless spatial flow become reality in the creation of a unique kind of civic space for the city. Her urban structures are profoundly connected to the cities in which they’re installed, nesting in the urbanism andestablishing a continuous, fluid relationship with their surroundings. The urbanism is also absorbed into the interior, so the interior becomes a part of the exterior. Take for example her Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Center, whose mass stretches out to the sea and appears to be floating on the water itself, as it takes on the form of a giant aquatic creature with a design depicting a growing organism that sprouts a network of successive branches. Or her London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games inspired by water in motion, which integrates into the river landscape of the Olympic Park. Its undulating roof sweeps up from the ground like a wave, its fluidity reflecting the volume of the swimming and diving pools.

Through her work where evoking curiosity is a recurrent theme, Hadid incessantly pushes back the limits of design, architecture and urbanism (three fields she views as intricately linked), experimenting with original spatial concepts, bold shapes and enriching urban landscapes. Her aesthetic approach encompasses all creative domains from cities, buildings and interior spaces to furniture and objects, and involves practical experience as much as teaching and research. Collaborating with other companies, industry leaders in their field, has allowed the implementation of cutting-edge technologies resulting in the creation of dynamic and fluid architectural structures. Each design is morphologically conceived and then refined further by taking into account typological, functional and ergonomic considerations.

But is it possible to push the boundaries of what’s possible as much with shoes and jewelry as with architecture? Hadid replies, “In terms of form, all our projects – architecture, fashion and furniture – interest me equally, and all of the designs originate from similar principles. All the projects are connected somehow. The idea for a building, furniture or a fashion piece can come up just as quickly, but there is a big difference in the process of resolving and realizing each design. Our collaborations with different industries are very important to us – they give us an opportunity to express our ideas on a different scale and through different media. We see it as part of a continuous process of design investigation. It’s a two-way process: we apply our architectural research to these fashion projects, but we also learn a great deal about the processes and new materials of that industry. Of course, there is a lot of fluidity now between furniture design, architecture and art – a lot more cross-pollination in the disciplines. But this isn’t about competition; it’s about collaboration and how these different practices and processes can contribute to one another. Our architectural designs become more ambitious as we see the new possibilities offered by the technology of other industries.”

After designing everything from bags, yachts, cars and sculptures to sofas, tables, fireplaces, vases and chandeliers, Hadid launched her own luxury homeware line at Harrods last September, inspired by the forms of her architectural work. The collection encompasses gift items and home accessories, including platters, trays, vessels, candles, candelabras, stools and a chess set, which have been designed using state-of-the-art techniques and crafted by artisans from across Europe. She comments, “Designing products is of great importance to us. Definitely, one of the most exciting things about product design is the advanced technologies used for design and manufacture; the production process between idea and result is so much quicker than for architecture. This faster timeframe leads to greater opportunities for experimentation; we also have the possibility to create real prototypes very quickly, allowing us to immediately evaluate and revise the object throughout the design process. These greater opportunities for experimentation certainly help to perfect the design.”

Hadid is one of the few successful women architects in what is a predominantly male-driven field. At university, the numbers of male and female architecture students may be equally balanced, but only about 20 percent of qualified architects today are women, as many of them subsequently leave the profession. She elaborates, “Architecture is a very tough profession. Every architect you talk to, no matter man or woman, has it very difficult. I think it is very important to have the commitment to persevere, and you must have a strong belief in yourself. As a woman, you need the confidence that you can carry on and take new steps every time. Like men, women have to be diligent and work hard. It is a male-dominated industry, not just in architectural practices, but the developers and builders, too. I can’t blame the men, though. I think the problem is continuity. Society has not been set up in a way that allows women to return to work after taking time for family. Many women now have to work as well as do everything at home – and no one can do everything! Society needs to find more ways to help women. It may be a little easier now, with new technology, for a woman to take time for family and return to work afterwards.We now see more established, respected female architects all the time. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Sometimes the challenges are immense. But in the last 15 years, there’s been tremendous change, and we will continue this progress.”

Currently, Hadid is working on approximately 45 different cultural, educational, residential, sporting and commercial projects worldwide, including the new National Stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s College Oxford University and 520 West 28^th Street in New York. An entire section of her office researches innovative design and construction techniques, collaborating with engineers and with people experimenting with materials to uncover new discoveries and push them into the mainstream for the benefit all sectors of the industry. These advances are enabling architects to rethink form and space, and architecture can also assist in reorganizing living processes in meaningful ways to contribute to a more ecologically-sustainable society.

Hadid outlines her office’s future plans, “Like many architects, we are already implementing sophisticated ventilation and building management systems in our projects to improve the ecological balance of a building. However, we are also researching new materials and construction methods that also bring significant environmental benefits. As these different clusters of development – sustainability and the applicability of the materials – come together, we are beginning to find significant solutions to the urgent ecological challenge that is the defining question of our era.”