This article is an original, without permission may not be modified, moved, violators will be held legally responsible!
March 2021,
The 5th anniversary of the death of architect Zaha Hadid,
In July, Zaha. Hadid Architects' China premiere opened in Shanghai.
More than 200 masterpieces of the original architectural model, precious manuscripts,
Come to the scene.
Zaha's architecture left behind around the world
Zaha is the first and so far the only one
Women who have independently won the "Pritzker Prize", the highest honor in the field of architecture,
It was named by Time Magazine in 2010
"The 100 Most Influential People in the World".
This whimsical genius, never married,
All his life he has been breaking the rules and regulations of various traditions,
Constantly subverting people's understanding of architecture,
Prejudice against nationality, gender, and other identities.
Also through the buildings that make people feel like they are in a science fiction movie,
Let the world fall in love with curves, and flowing "Zaha shapes".
Zaha Hadid
Zaha. The scene of haddid architects' inaugural exhibition in China
Rapidly developing China,
Giving Zaha the opportunity to realize his imagination,
Guangzhou Opera House, Beijing Lize SOHO, Daxing Airport...
She sees this land as such
"A place that inspires me and lifts my spirits".
Article 1 Visit the exhibition site at the first time,
He also conducted in-depth interviews with Zaha's close working partner, Ohashi.
Written by Zhu Yuru, responsible editor Chen Ziwen
Zaha, who had been determined to be an architect since the age of 11, waited until the age of 44 to realize the first truly built building.
Because of her gender, nationality, distinctive style and philosophy, she has been running into walls for decades. Beginning in 2003, fast-growing China gave her the opportunity to show her skills.
China's unique culture and geography also brought her abundant inspiration:
Photo by Iwan Baan (top), Virgile Simon Bertrand (bottom)
Such as the Guangzhou Opera House, which is "the pebbles washed by the flowing water in the Pearl River",
Photo by Iwan Baan (Part 1)
Beijing Galaxy SOHO, which stands like a terrace,
Photo by Seven7Panda (top), Virgile Simon Bertrand (bottom)
It is as if three hibiscus flowers bloom at the Meixi Lake International Culture and Arts Center in Changsha on the shore of the lake...
"In many places, people's imaginations of cities and lives have solidified and are difficult to change." Zaha once said, "But China is different, everything here is changing, moving forward, there are infinite possibilities." ”
To date, Zaha has carried out more than 100 projects in China. Unfortunately, she has not been able to witness the realization of most of her works. Among them, Daxing Airport is known as one of her most stunning masterpieces, and was rated as the first of the "Seven Wonders of the New World" by the British Guardian.
Daxing Airport Photo by Dan Chung
This masterpiece, which covers an area of 700,000 square meters, took a total of 5 years to achieve her pursuit of morphological beauty and practicality to the extreme.
From the outside, it looks like a giant butterfly with its wings outstretched, a shape that minimizes the journey of travelers to the boarding gate. Looking inward, the vaulted roof extends to the ground to form a petal-shaped traffic corridor, providing structural support while visually guiding passengers through lines and light.
Photo: Hufton + Crow (top) Photo: Dan Chung (bottom)
Before this, Zaha had never produced such a large-scale work. More than 8,000 pieces of light roof glass are used, and due to the construction of streamlined curved surfaces, the shape of each piece is unique.
Five years after Zaha's death, in July 2021, Zaha finally held its first solo exhibition in China. More than 200 classics, original models and precious manuscripts designed by China under construction, have traveled to the Shanghai Art Gallery to show Chinese audiences the legendary road of Zaha and what she imagined the future city to look like.
Zaha was born in 1950 to a wealthy, enlightened family in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. His father was a well-known industrialist and politician, and his mother was an artist.
It was the golden age of the most liberal, open and agitated minds in Baghdad. The government invited many of the world's top modern architects to reconstruct the city, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright... Zaha's home is in Baghdad's first Bauhaus-style building.
Zaha of childhood
From an early age, Zaha has been very assertive. Her brother once said, "I felt like she could do anything she wanted, even become Iraq's first astronaut." She just has that kind of confidence and aura. ”
At the age of 11, Zaha decided he wanted to become an architect. Her parents were very supportive, giving her the design of the guest rooms in the house and Little Zaha's own bedroom.
Zaha at the Architectural Union Academy (Photo: AA School)
At the age of 22, graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, Zaha traveled to London to study at the prestigious Architectural Association. It was the center of the avant-garde architecture of the time, and the radical, rebellious hippie atmosphere pervaded every corner of the campus.
"As a woman, or an Arab woman wearing a traditional headscarf, I seemed out of place," Zaha once recalled.
But soon, everyone found that what set Zaha apart most was not her appearance, but her thoughts. Her mentor, Rem Koolhaas, the designer of the Beijing CCTV building, once described her as "a planet that defines its own orbit, and "I told her to trust her instincts, no matter how outrageous it may seem to others." ”
Zaha's early design drawings are artistic
Zaha traveled to China as a student, and she was impressed by the river's cutting of the country's terrain and the stone sculptures in the Chinese garden. She really likes this sense of abstract lines.
At the same time, she is obsessed with Russian abstract painting, designing and creating three-dimensional architecture in the form of artistic painting, and puts these inspirations into practice.
Hong Kong Hilltop Club design drawings and animations
In 1982, the third year of his own firm, Zaha competed in a design competition for the Hong Kong Hilltop Club and beat more than 1,700 competitors worldwide, including her mentor Kuhas.
Zaha's design is made up of strips of space blocks stacked on top of each other, like a spaceship moored on Victoria Peak, a creative re-expression of her local topography. The abstract echo between the building and the surrounding environment is one of Zaha's core philosophies.
The school celebrates Zaha, the cake is based on Zaha's design drawings (Photo: Valerie Bennett)
In fact, the little-known Zaha was eliminated at the first trial, and it was the Japanese architect Isozaki Shin, the chairman of the jury at the time, who picked up her plan from the waste paper pile and said it had a "sense of impact and imagination beyond the understanding of the time." People have never seen such a highly artistic drawing, and they have never thought that the building can be like this.
The project was eventually stranded due to problems with the owner. Zaha once said that this was one of the biggest regrets of her life.
Vitra Fire Station Photo by Helene Binet
Before the age of 44, none of Zaha's designs were actually built, and being attacked by many people would only be "on paper", questioning whether her design could not be realized, until the completion of the Vitra Fire Station in 1994.
"At first they just wanted me to design a chair, but then they thought it was too restrictive for me to play, so they asked me, 'Why don't we give you a fire station design?'" Zaha smiled and recalled the sudden opportunity.
The flying eaves seem to break free from gravity, and the cross-pierced walls seem to be frozen in intense motion, so elegant, but full of tension and drama.
Even after the successful realization of the Vitra Fire Station, Zaha still ran into walls because of gender, nationality, "unrealistic ideas", "impractical design" and other reasons.
Cardiff Opera House design model
The hardest hit her was the Cardiff Opera House in 1994. Zaha revised the plan three times in the bid and won, but the local government did not want a dark-skinned female immigrant to preside over the design, and eventually abandoned her work.
Throughout the 90s, Zaha was plunged into one of the darkest and most embarrassing times. She later revealed that she cried a lot during that time and even considered whether to give up the building.
Zaha and Patrick (Photo by Iwan Baan)
Parametric design demo
Zaha and partner Patrick. Schumacher was a pioneer in parametric design, and its world-famous curve was based on this technology. In the eyes of many, Zaha's obsession and obsession with curves stems from the culture in which she was born, Arabic calligraphy.
With the power of computers, more complex and bold structures and forms can be realized.
Fino Science Center Photo by Werner Huthmacher
The Feno Science Center is known as a great creation in architecture technology. It is like an undulating surface, the internal structure is neither horizontal nor vertical, and all the details must be precisely combined to make this behemoth stand up. Zaha and his team spent 18 months simulating and reconstructing a new gravity formula.
National Museum of 21st Century Photography: Iwan Baan (Top & Bottom), Zaha Hadid Architects (Center)
The National Museum of 21st Century Art is an important work of Zaha's transition from early zigzag design to late streamlined design, when she defeated 273 opponents. It is inspired by the city's topography and history. Layers of overlap, superposition and collision make up the building, like the ruins of ancient Rome, and like the rivers of the delta intertwined with the momentary freezing.
Aliyev Culture Photo by Helene Binet (Figure 1), Hufton+Crow (Figure 2), Iwan Baan (Figure 3&4)
The Aliyev Cultural Center is the ultimate in Zaha's curvy, fluid design. This pure white building seems to grow naturally from the ground, extending from the ground to the walls, roofs, and then back to the ground, enveloping visitors in it without gaps. Each angle has a different scenery.
In her opinion, "The world has 360 degrees, why do you have to stumble in one direction?" ”
Zaha himself has publicly stated, "A good building is not only able to shield the wind and rain, but also to change people's imagination of life." ”
Practice in China may support this.
Beijing Lize SOHO Photography: Hufton+Crow Video courtesy of SOHO China
Beijing Lize SOHO, because it is just above the transportation hub, Zaha and the team split the building in two, across the subway. The resulting world's highest atrium evolved into a natural vent.
After studying the local sunshine movement, the building is appropriately distorted, and while maximizing the sunshine and reducing the energy consumption in the building, the high-rise of the tower can also be consistent with the street direction of Beijing City, becoming a "city window".
Photo by Hufton+Crow
Daxing Airport Photo: Dan Chung
Daxing Airport, the six-pointed star-shaped design maximizes the number of gates while minimizing the distance between passengers and the gate. Zaha and the team hatched the design with plans for future expansions to reach 100 million passengers per year.
Thanks to the use of roof glass and special reflective coatings, the world's largest airport requires only one-tenth as much lighting as a regular airport.
Jockey Club Innovation Building Photo: Doublespace
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Jockey Club Innovation Building, a 15-storey inclined building, not only maximizes the usable area by integrating the tower with the podium, but also makes the division, integration and reorganization of the internal space more free, corresponding to future needs.
Zaha's team simulated and studied possible social behaviors, designing circular routes and large open public spaces that facilitate people's communication and interaction.
Chengdu Unicorn Island Simulation (Render by MIR)
Chengdu Unicorn Island is one of China's future cities under construction. After precise calculations, it is guaranteed that people can reach the central square within 8 minutes of walking from any location on the island, reducing the flow of cars and exhaust emissions. "In this smart city, all the natural rainwater is collected and reused, and the sunshine of each building can be optimized."
The firm has also designed a complete VR experience that allows users to experience life and form their community before the island is built.
Zaha never married.
For this choice, she once explained, "It's not that I don't want to get married and have children like most women. I think these are very beautiful. If I had met the right person at the right time, maybe I would have lived that life too. But I think I'm going to be cut off by these two worlds, and I have to keep focusing on architecture. ”
Zaha at home (Photo: Alberto Heras)
Because of this, in the eyes of many people, Zaha is a strong woman who has no human touch and only knows how to work. "Her home was like a showroom, empty except for a few objects of her own design, nothing alive or related to hobbies," said a prominent journalist for The Daily Telegraph.
Zaha at work is undoubtedly a female demon-like being, grumpy and extremely demanding.
According to the firm's designers, she almost never praises anyone, and the mantra she hears most often is "I'm not happy with it." Zaha has a phone in her office, and sometimes she picks it up and starts angrily criticizing a project for a long time, and then the extension of the entire building becomes a public horn, and no one dares to squeak.
Ohashi is very excited to recall his past with Zaha
In private, Zaha actually loves to cook, especially a chicken dish that she has not changed for decades. "We used to work until 3 or 4 a.m. and she would cook for us at home, like a mother taking care of her family," Ohashi recalled.
"With Zaha, you'll find her very interesting." She has her own language and loves to give people she knows a lot of cute nicknames: calling her partners Schumacher "cappuccino" and "furry", calling the Japanese bridge saying "sushi"...
Zaha and Galeries Lafayette had a close personal relationship
Zaha's fashionable style of dressing (Photo: Bryan Adams)
Zaha loves fashion, especially the asymmetrical, three-dimensional cuts of Japanese designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto. She has a private dressing room in the firm building, and the carpet on the entire floor is rose red.
"She would even move her hair salon into our office. Then say, you you you, come get a new haircut. Those people after being transformed by her were like a changed person, especially the tide," Ohashi recalled.
Photo by Brigitte Lacombe
In 2016, Zaha died of a sudden myocardial infarction in Miami at the age of 66.
If the world has lost a great architect, a bold idealist, a brave challenger, she continues to influence and inspire those who come after.
Ma Yansong's eulogy to Zaha
Architect Ma Yansong was once a student of Zaha, "many people who study Zaha are simply pursuing parametrics and the so-called 'Zaha style' streamline sense of these superficial things." For me, what was really important and influential was her rebellion and break with the past, her unwavering commitment to herself, and her true creation of something culturally distinctive. ”
"You have to know who you are, what the environment and times you grew up in, what your unique genes are. Every person, every generation, has a different answer. That's what Zaha wants. ”
And such recourse is particularly precious in this era.