Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBEwas an Iraqi-born British architect. She was the first Arab woman who received the Pritzker Architecture Prize, winning it in 2004. She received the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 2015 she became the first woman to be awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in her own right...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth31 October 1950
CityBaghdad, Iraq
half female students
Half of architecture students are women, and you see respected, established female architects all the time.
london exciting
I loved London. In the 1970s... it was very exciting, really wild.
cities exciting toughness
I find industrial cities exciting. I like their toughness.
war men iran
In Iraq, many of my female friends were architects and professionals with a lot of power during the 1980s while all the men were at war in Iran.
adventure avant-garde spirit
The spirit of adventure to embrace the new and the incredible belief in the power of invention attracted me to the Russian avant-garde.
father party leader
My father was a politician, and a very important politician, and one of the leaders of the Iraqi Democratic Party, who believed in progress.
office focus used
I can't focus when there's too many things around. Whenever I used to go to the office, I used to always say, 'Tidy up.'
thinking cities miami
I really love Miami, but I don't think the architecture matches the city. It's a bit too commercial.
museums london gallery
There are so many great galleries and museums in London, but they can be very crowded during the day.
britain-and-america quality building
What's similar between Britain and America is the lack of good-quality civic buildings.
powerful kids
I always thought I was powerful, since I was a kid.
taught students best-students
When I taught, all my best students were women.
taught cautious
Being Iraqi taught me to be very cautious.
very-good skyscraper i-can
I am sure that as a woman I can do a very good skyscraper.