The world became a little less whimsical today with the loss of Zaha Hadid. The Queen of Curve, who was widely regarded as the most famous living female architect in the world, passed away today at the age of 65.
In addition to bringing futuristic, playful structures to cities around the world, Zaha was the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) gold medal. When it came to how she saw her accomplishments as a woman, Zaha told english.alarabiy.net “I don’t generally think of myself always as a woman architect, as I’ve said many times. I feel that I should be recognized as an architect first….People ask, ‘what’s it like to be a woman architect?’ I say, ‘I don’t know, I’ve not been a man.’ But now I think that if it serves as an inspiration or it helps women architects to push on then that’s fine.”
Zaha completed 13 structures in her lifetime which were commissioned around the world, as well as numerous unfinished projects including the world’s largest airport terminal which was announced earlier in the year. Hadid’s largest completed building to date is the National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, or MAXXI, in Rome.
Her other works include include the Vitra Fire Station, in Weil am Rhein, Germany (1994); a train station in Strasbourg (2001); a ski jump in Innsbruck, with an attached restaurant (2002); the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (2003); the Phaeno Science Center, in Wolfsburg, Germany (2005); and the BMW Plant Central Building, in Leipzig (2005).
According to The Guardian, “By 1979 she had established her own practice in London – Zaha Hadid Architects – garnering a reputation across the world for her ground-breaking theoretical works including The Peak in Hong Kong, the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin and the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales.”
Zaha Hadid architects released a statement saying “She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital.”
To pay our respect, here are just a few of Zaha Hadid’s amazing designs.
Check out Zaha’s Instagram to see the other incredible structures she left behind.
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