One day, while the cheering and anticipation for the match between India and West Indies was strong, I sat curled up in my chair in shock and so were many other colleagues and friends of mine after we received the heart breaking message of the uncalled death of the renowned Iraqi born British architect, Zaha Hadid.
Zaha Hadid is known as the queen of contemporary architecture which have a bold iconic design combined with the key to sustainability. She has been an inspiration to each and every architecture student, architect, designer and many other women as she became the first woman recipient of the Pritzker Prize, breaking all stereotypes of architecture and proving that women are equal to men or much more beyond them when it comes to designing buildings with bizzare, unique and out of the box concepts.
As an ode to Dame Zaha Hadid, we have archived 3 of her best designs which exhibit sustainable design stirred with contemporary architecture and are certainly like candy to the eye.
1. Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku
Heydar Aliyev Center occupies an area of 101801 square meters, and it is located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Charming construction that will catch your eye. It’s purpose is for cultural programs in the country.
It represents a fluid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s natural topography and by the wrapping of individual functions of the Center. All functions of the Center, together with entrances, are represented by folds in a single continuous surface. This fluid form gives an opportunity to connect the various cultural spaces whilst at the same time, providing each element of the Center with its own identity and privacy.
It’s an architectural landscape where concepts of seamless spatial flow are made real – creating a whole new kind of civic space for the city.
2. London Aquatics Centre For 2012 Summer Olympics
Inspired by the flow of water and the gentle yet defined curves it traces as it flows, Zaha Hadid took fluid geometry as the concept of this mega structure which came up to be one of the most outstanding projects in the history of architecture. An undulating roof sweeps up from the ground as a wave – enclosing the pools of the Centre with a unifying gesture of fluidity, while also describing the volume of the swimming and diving pools.
3. Phaeno Science Centre – Wolfsburg
An amalgam of concrete, glass and steel; the Phaeno Science centre is an intricately designed building which showcases it’s structural body of lattice work, dressed up in all white! It merges in with the medieval European cathedrals due to it’s classic soul but exhibits the contemporary panache of the modernist era at the same time.
Further, while going through various projects done by Zaha, if there’s something missing is her actual opinion, thought and say about architecture and sustainable design. As an excerpt from one of her recent interviews in the past month, this is what Zaha had to say when asked about how her design’s tread on to be more futuristic with time,
Architecture does not follow fashion or economic cycles– it follows the cycles of innovation generated by social and technological developments. I think architecture must change with these new patterns of life to meet increasing demands of their users. I believe what is new in our generation are the much greater levels of complexity and connectivity. Contemporary urbanism and architecture must move beyond the 20th Century architecture of repetitive square blocks, towards architecture for the 21st Century that addresses the complexities, dynamism and densities of our lives today.
Though it’s saddening and immensely disheartening to know that Zaha lost her life due to a heart attack, in the end, she will stay alive in all of the marvels she thought of, perceived and gave life to. As an ode to one of the greatest architects that the world would ever have, RIP Zaha Hadid.
