Zaha Hadid was born in 1950 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.
Nowadays she is working on projects that range from master-plans in Singapore and Istanbul, to an opera house in China, a museum in Rome, and a skyscraper in Dubai. In 2007 Hadid opened two substantial buildings in Germany: a car factory for BMW and the Phaeno Science Centre, for which she was shortlisted for the 2006 RIBA Stirling Prize. Both demonstrated her ability to translate the essence of her virtuoso spatial invention in solid form.
The Johann Sebastian Bach Pavilion which she designed for the Manchester Hall project in 2009 is one of the remarkable examples of her work and vision.The “Floating band” is wrapped around a space and the spectators and shows once again the essence of architecture as the third skin and the shaping of space, light and sound. It is a metaphor of music and its effect on the environment.
Zaha Hadid was part of the recently ended exhibition Super Contemporary at the Design Museum. The exhibition showcased 15 new commissions from London’s most dynamic creatives, who had been asked what they would give back to London.
Photos by Zaha Hadid | Johann Sebastian Bach Pavilion