Art in Transylvania : Zaha Hadid - '' The Queen of curves '', by Gabriel Buturka

Apr 5, 2016

Zaha Hadid - '' The Queen of curves '', by Gabriel Buturka

October 31, 1950- March 31, 2016

World-renowned architect Zaha Hadid died Thursday at the age of 65. The British-Iraqi architect had a heart attack while being treated for bronchitis at a Miami hospital.

Zaha Mohammad Hadid was born Oct. 31, 1950, in Baghdad. Her father was a wealthy businessman, a prominent person in a progressive wing of Iraqi politics and a minister of finance before the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Hadid was allowed to design her bedroom as a child and decided to become an architect when she was 11. She received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the American University in Beirut, then moved to London to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

By the time she graduated in 1977, she had studied with such renowned architects as Bernard Tschumi, Daniel Libeskind and Rem Koolhaas.

She opened an architecture studio in London in 1979.

Hadid established herself as a great architect by winning high-profile cultural commissions and was bolstered by architecture honors like her induction into the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 2012. She went by “Zaha,” enjoying first-name-only celebrity brand name status, even beyond design circles. Brands and celebrities lined up to collaborate with Hadid: Chanel, Adidas (with Pharrell Williams), jewelers Swarovski and Georg Jensen, Moleskine.

Hadid received her career-defining prize, the 2004 Pritzker, at the relatively young age of 53 despite only having a small body of built work. The accompanying headline of the official announcement—”Zaha Hadid Becomes the First Woman to Receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize”—signaled the tenor of the media coverage to follow.

Her company ZHA Architects said: “It is with great sadness that Zaha Hadid Architects have confirmed that Dame Zaha Hadid, died suddenly in Miami in the early hours of this morning (Thursday).She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital.”