Zaha Hadid Inspiration and Process
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“ we can only perceive space when we break free from the earth, when the point of support disappears.� Kasimir Malevich , 1928
“ There’s no such thing as practice, just infinite experimental space. Not a final frontier, but an endless one.” Bill Millard
Zaha Hadid The first woman to win the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in its 26 year history, ZAHA HADID (1950-) has defined a radically new approach to architecture by creating buildings, such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, with multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life.
INSPIRATION Born in Ba gh in an era w dad in 19 50, M hen Mod t ernit s. Ha y: its he Middl did and f e Ea glam aith i st wa came of orou n the cosm age s enc s for fut op ms, hant prog e as Lo olitan va ure. Early d by ressi lu ndon o ve au , New es that b n, she s She r a o o was a Y u ked u ork, rai Mos nd cities inspi cow, red h sed in on as di p the ver B e o ei uses the c of Ba . In t onst ghda rut and B se h r u d’s fi e late erlin. replic ction rst B 1950 a of auha his P of Gio Po ’s sh post us ire e ob nti’s war I ser ve plann talian lli Tower d i n i n Mi style lan, a g ministr . y, a symb ol of
Prophet Shuaib Mosque and Sanctuary
Hadid’s interest in architecture had roots in a trip her family took to the ancient Sumer region in southern Iraq, the site of one of the world’s oldest civilizations. “My father took us to see the Sumerian cities,” she told Jonathan Glancey of London’s Guardian newspaper. “Then we went by boat, and then on a smaller one made of reeds, to visit villages in the marshes. The beauty of the landscape—where sand, water, reeds, birds, buildings, and people all somehow flowed together—has never left me. I’m trying to discover—invent, I suppose—an architecture, and forms of urban planning, that do something of the same thing in a contemporary way.”
“ Hadid’s childhood experiences encouraged a belief in open communication between different groups of people, but also a strong conviction in Iraqi independence.” Sumarian Ruins
Hadid’s father played an important role in her creative development. He exposed her to many different cultures while always stressing the importance of her heritage. Being a politician and a great patriot, Mr. Hadid always shared his views with his daughter about his country’s future. He demonstrated this through his studies at the London School of Economics and participation in the fight for Iraqi independence from foreign occupation. His progressive views on the industrialization of Iraq, housing issues, and the nationalization of the oil production influenced Zaha in her views of the world. Hadid’s childhood experiences encouraged a belief in open communication between different groups of people, but also a strong conviction in Iraqi independence.
I’m trying to discover – invent, I suppose – an architecture, and forms of urban planning, that do something of the same thing in a contemporary way.” She bounced to Switzerland and Lebanon before settling in the mid-1970’s in London, where she cut her teeth as a student at the Architectural Association, then a center of experimentation. It was there that she met Rem Koolhaas,
Architectural Association, London
Elia Zenghelis and Bernard Tschumi, architects who would leap to the forefront of experimental European architecture in the following decade. Shaped by the 1968 student protests, those architects were groping for a way to distinguish themselves from their immediate forebears without sundering their ties to Modernity. Many of them found inspiration in the utopian forms of the Soviet Constructivists, an attraction that had the romantic benefit of having been crushed in its infancy by Stalin.
Hadid is also influenced by modern infrastructure, taking inspiration from the language of highway engineering. To Hadid the topologies of street scapes and urban street patterns contribute to our landscape.
“ It’s Importatnt for research to take place because eventually it does have a trickling effect. So that’s what really drives me.” As opportunities for building her visions gradually arose, Hadid found for architecture the equivalent of the material and sensuous qualities of suprematist painting- the effects of Malevich’s handling of pigment, techniques of fading, and combining of colors. Hadid’s way of working married the generative permutations of suprematism with the step-by-step generative design method devised by Ginzburg and other Constructivist architects. Ginzburg’s “functional method” began with the abstract diagramming of given functional requirements and their potential to change over time, and then turned to new industrial materials and methods of constructions to “crystallize the social condenser”. Hadid insists, like Malevich, on seeing art and architecture as a totality, but figures it more concretely as the urbanization of the planet.
Another important aspect of Hadid’s vision is her interest in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape, and geology as she integrates natural and human-made systems that lead her to experiment with video, digital imaging, and physical modelling. Such a process often results in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms moulded by the realities of site and building requirements.
“ There is a discourse between architects and designers. This may be privy to those people and may not affect the public for a long time (in built form), but it’s important for that research to take place because eventually it does have a trickling effect. So that’s what really drives me.”
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With this relationship she hopes to build a better world one marked by freedom and liberation from our past, from the constraint of social convention from physical laws, and free of our bodies. With this freedom she found free spaces in the explorations of what already exists in the landscape.
These explorations begin with paint. This large-scale painting for British Vogue con‑ tinues our exploration of views into London’s urban character that began with the Grand Buildings, Metropolis, and Leicester Square schemes. The work presents our most radical shake-up of the metropolis in both diagrammatic and pictorial terms within a single painting and it should be judged by this radicalness. We studied the open spaces, rail, road, water and air routes and borough layout, and restructured the entire plan. As the brush moves over London from
the west, strands converge, stretch and continue towards the east. These strokes cut new sectionlines of air and area for what we believe could be new sites for buildings, for it is the very intersection of vertical structures to the ground where public activities would be intensified in this new plan.
London 2066
“ you have to be very focused and work very hard, but it is not about working hard without knowing what your aim is! you really have to have a goal. the goal posts might shift, but you should have a goal” Zaha starts her projects with concepts through paintings, which she calls her narrative stance of spatial language. These paintings represent themes and feelings for architecture. Her early work started off with elaborately color filled paintings to her black and white mult layered shaped pieces she creates now. Her black and white pieces are large and more conventional compared to the previous. Many of these paintings associated with projects that are mainly black and white are sketches of possibilities open to interpretation.
Victoria City Areal Berlin, Germany 1988
She presents her concepts to employers in impressionistic, abstract paintings, designed to get across the feel of her spaces.
After her concepts are brought to life through her paintings she has it put into wire frame form and introduced to the client as a 3D model. When introducing her work to a client she shows every step of the process from the painting to the 3D model. Her 3D models present buildings that do beyond their limitation of the site built upon which makes the structure seem larger and more open than anyone could expect. Using the latest 3D modelling and CNC programming solutions, Zaha is able to guarantee a very precise and automatic translation of the design into the built structure. Zaha started out by creating buildings that would sparkle like jewels but now she wants her structures to connect and form a new landscape while maintaining a relationship with the natural landscape and to flow together with people’s lives.
City Life Milano Milan, Italy 2004 – 2005
...I don’t use the computer. I do sketches, very quickly, often more than 100 on the same formal research...� Zaha has established her own practice in London in 1980 and became successful not just in architecture but also furniture, jewelry, and interiors. While a lot of her buildings have been finalized (built) most remain conceptual (not built).