The architectural world is mourning the recent passing of Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid who was a true pioneer in her field. In 2004, she was the first Muslim (and woman) to receive architecture’s highest honor, the Priztker Prize. In this piece, journalist Molly Hannon writes “Hadid’s uncanny ability to change the way we see and feel space foreshadowed the discipline’s direction, making her a legendary figure for architects and non-architects alike.”
She cites architectural critic Joseph Giovannini who comments, “Air is Hadid’s element: she floats buildings that reside aloft. At a time, in the early 80s, when architects were concerned about manifesting the path of gravity through buildings, Hadid invented a new anti-gravitational visual physics. She suspended weight in the same way dramatists suspend disbelief.”
Born in Baghdad in 1950, Zaha Hadid moved to Britain in the 1960s and therefore, according to Ms. Hannon, “was able to view her Arab heritage and culture through the lens of an outsider and begin to reconsider how architecture was not only a manifestation of culture or a historical marker, but also a way for an individual to influence and literally shape that culture.”
