Cooper Hewitt says...
Zaha Hadid was the founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, and the first ever female recipient of the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize, as well as the 2010 Stirling Prize, from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Raised in Baghdad, Iraq, Hadid went on to study at the Architectural Association in London. Upon graduating in 1977, she was hired by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the firm founded by her teacher Rem Koolhas.Two years later, Hadid established her own practice.
A leader in the use of digital tools and technologies, Hadid’s designs and awards are many. Institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York have honored her with retrospectives. Her buildings are the progeny of Modernism, and show the influences of Cubism, Futurism, and Constructivism, but also the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich. Her geometric stylizations are characterized by their sense of fragmentation, instability, and movement. This fragmented style led her to be grouped with architects known as “deconstructivists,” a classification made popular by the 1988 landmark exhibition “Deconstructivist Architecture” held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1988. These design influences can even be seen on a smaller scale, in accessories Hadid has designed for the home.
