Zaha Hadid [Arabic: زها حديد] CBE [born October 31, 1950, Baghdad, Iraq] is a notable Iraqi-British deconstructivist architect.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, she received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. After graduating she worked with her former teacher, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, becoming a partner in 1977. In 1980 she established her own London-based practice. During the 1980s she also taught at the Architectural Association.

A winner of many international competitions, a number of Hadid's winning designs were never built: notably, The Peak Club in Hong Kong (1983) and the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales (1994). In 2002 Hadid won the international design competition to design Singapore's one-north masterplan. In 2005, her design won the competition for the new city casino of Basel, Switzerland. In 2004 Hadid became the first female recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Previously, she had been awarded a CBE for services to architecture. She is a member of the editorial board of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Work

Much of Hadid's early work was conceptual, realized projects include:

> Maggie's centre at the Victoria Hospital (2006), Kirkcaldy, Scotland
> High speed train station of Naples (2006), Naples, Italy
> BMW Central Building (2005), Leipzig, Germany
> Nordkettenbahn (aerial tramway) (2007), Innsbruck, Austria
> Ordrupgaard annexe (2005), Copenhagen, Denmark
> Phaeno Science Center (2005), Wolfsburg, Germany
> Bergisel Ski Jump (2002), Innsbruck, Austria
> Hoenheim-North Terminus & Car Park (2001), Strasbourg, France
> Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (1998), Cincinnati, Ohio
> Vitra Fire Station (1994), Weil am Rhein, Germany

She has also undertaken some high-profile interior work, including the Mind Zone at the Millennium Dome in London. One current project is for the 20,000-seat Aquatics Centre for London, one of the new venues being constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympics.



Exhibits

Zaha Hadid retrospective- Guggenheim Museum, New York City 2006

> 1 June - 29 July 2006 – Max Protetch Gallery, Chelsea, NYC
> 3 June - 25 October 2006 – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
> 2001 - Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg
> 1997 - San Francisco MoMA
> 1995 - Graduate School of Design at Harvard University
> 1988 - Deconstructivist Architecture show at MoMA, New York
> 1985 - GA Gallery, Tokyo
> 1978 - Guggenheim Museum, New York
> 1983 - Retrospective at the Architectural Association, London



Films and Videos
 
> A Day with Zaha Hadid 2004, 52 minutes, color. New York: Michael Blackwood Productions.