Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid, founder of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004 and is internationally known for her built, theoretical and academic work. Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950, she studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before moving to London in 1972 to attend the Architectural Association (AA) School where she was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977. Hadid founded the ZHA studio in 1979. With forty years of exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design, ZHA grew to become one the world’s most consistently inventive architectural studios.

Establishing Zaha Hadid Design (ZHD) in 2006, she partnered with iconic brands to create exceptional limited-edition pieces that are included within the world’s most admired museum collections. Zaha Hadid’s outstanding contribution to the architectural profession has been acknowledged by professional, academic and civic institutions around the world. In 2010 and 2011, her designs were awarded the Stirling Prize, one of architecture’s highest accolades, by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Other awards include UNESCO naming Hadid as an Artist for Peace, the Republic of France honouring Hadid with the Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and Time magazine included her in the “100 Most Influential People in the World”, naming her the world’s top thinker of 2010. Hadid was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, and in February 2016, she received the Royal Gold Medal. Zaha Hadid passed away on the 31st of March 2016, and her legacy endures within the DNA of the design studio she created.