Zaha Hadid

Hadid never married nor had any children. She was entirely dedicated to her professional career. She broke many social stereotypes to emerge as a role model for Muslim women and opened up opportunities for women as well as Muslims to become architects.

Zaha Hadid died of a heart attack in a Miami hospital on 31 March 2016. At the time of her death she was undergoing treatment for bronchitis.

Zaha Mohammad Hadid was born on 31 October 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq, into an influential family. Her father, Muhammad al-Hajj Husayn Hadid, was an industrialist and the co-founder of the National Democratic Party in Iraq. Her mother, Wajiha al-Sabunji, was an artist.

Hadid’s upbringing by her incredibly successful father highlighted the foundation of her notion that “there was never a question that I would be a professional.”

During her early schooling, she attended a progressive Catholic school. It also included French, Muslim, and Jewish students. She herself came from a Sunni Muslim Arab family.

Her secondary educational career began at the ‘American University’ in Beirut. Her main focus was mathematics.

In 1972, she moved to London to study her strength, architecture, at the ‘Architectural Association’. Here, she met several professors and students that led her to become a partner at the ‘Office for Metropolitan Architecture’, launching her career forward.

Her brilliant career had its start in 1977 when she joined the ‘Office of Metropolitan Architecture’ and began teaching at the ‘Architectural Association’.

In 1980, Hadid broke free and began her own practice in London. ‘Zaha Hadid Architects’ employs over 350 people today.

Her first successfully built project was the ‘Vitra Fire Station’ in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The project lasted from 1989 to 1993. The building has since been turned into a museum.

In 1994, her design was chosen for the ‘Cardiff Bay Opera House’ in Wales. This gave her some publicity and fame, but unfortunately the building was not approved to be built as the city chose to spend the money on a stadium instead.

A major success came in 1998 when her design was chosen for the ‘Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art’. This was her first American project, and was the recipient of two awards, the ‘Royal Institute of British Architects Award’ in 2004 and the ‘American Architecture Award’ from ‘The Chicago Athenaeum’ the next year.

In 2003, she completed the building of the ‘Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art’. This was the first American museum designed by a woman and proclaimed the ‘most important American building to be completed since the cold war’ by the New York Times.

In 2010, her Maxxi building design was awarded the Stirling Prize. The national museum is located in Rome and is said to be “a masterpiece fit to sit alongside Rome’s ancient wonders,” (The Guardian)