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Visonary architect Zaha Hadid challenged notions of what could be achieved in building. Described by The Guardian as the “Queen of the Curve,” her inventive designs freed architecture from its traditional focus on concrete and steel, introducing radical new ways to create spaces in harmony with their surroundings. With a foundation in painting and the utilizing progressive digital technologies, Hadid’s innovative approach helped shift the geometry of buildings toward a new aesthetic. As a woman and a Muslim, she also helped break barriers in the male-dominated world of high-profile architecture.
Before her designs were realised in actual buildings, Hadid’s architectural drawings and paintings were gaining international acclaim as she challenged the idea that a building was merely a solid mass. Her company would later coin the term Parametricism to define this signature look and feel.
Hadid’s major works include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum, Rome’s MAXXI Museum, and the Guangzhou Opera House.
Hadid was the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004, and she received the Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architectural award, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to architecture, and in February 2016, she became the first woman to individually receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (Ray Eames and Sheila O’Donnell had previously won jointly with Charles Eames and John Tuomey respectively).