We Love: Zaha Hadid

Modern architecture is a male-dominated galaxy—if the names studding it aren’t recognizable (Frank Gehry, I. M. Pei, Michael Graves), their creations certainly are (Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, Renzo Piano’s Pompidou Centre in Paris). But rising like a supernova is Zaha Hadid. For more than 25 years, the internationally renowned architect has defied convention and broken down barriers to build a remarkable career filled with flamboyant, groundbreaking structures like the interior of the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, and the Bergisel Ski Jump in Innsbruck, Austria. Hadid’s first project in the United States, the Richard and Lois Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a sight to behold; and sure to be the same is her commissioned project for the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 2004, Hadid was named the 2004 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the first and only time a woman has been named for this prestigious award.

Now a British citizen, the Baghdad-born Hadid’s newest accomplishment is underway: a nearly $30 billion project on an island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The Baghdad-born Hadid is also designing the Aquatic Center for the 2012 Olympics in London. And, if being an architectural and design genius wasn’t enough, Hadid is also a gifted artist—she has exhibited at New York’s Guggenheim and Modern Art museums—and she’s an academic devoted to science and study of architecture. With her impressive background, stunning achievements, and ambitious plans, we salute Hadid as well as voice a hope that more women take the same path, and build their dreams from the ground up, literally.