she is a genius, what else?

Zaha was in a pink one, stretched to infinity.

Ohhhh haaaaa!!

prima donna

I really only like her Centre for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati.

Someone care to explain her, or how she had a firm for years without actually building something?

she made her dreams cum true..so big applause!

higherness - if you look at all the stararchitects you'll see they did the same. Mayne/Morphosis built a house every 3 years or more for many years, Meier's first house (the Smith house) was for his parent's friends (in New Canaan CT, one of the wealthiest places in the country) then built a house for his brother, Pei's dad was/is the head of the Hong Kong Bank....etc.

Hadid...don't know any details, but I know her brother was going to have her design his house, so they weren't poor (he chickened out, before she was famous). Judging by the shopping she did while 'teaching' us in LA, she's got buttloads of cash (and always did).

This is one of the reasons I left architecture. It's nearly impossible to pursue that type of career path, the "uncompromised" career path, without some way of support (either from marriage or family wealth). I am not saying it's not impossible, but I don't know of any examples that did not have some kind of large financial support. Someone please feel free to prove me wrong.

As they say, architecture is a wonderful profession if you have money.

trace the smith house is in Darien, CT not New Canaan. Phillip had his digs in New Canaan.

ah, you are correct, right next to each other, though - average home prices is into the millions

I have always respected the work of Zaha. I think she is one of very few in architecture that has actually developed an engaging discourse for herself (through her re-interpretations of architectural representation and the interiority of form-making that came from it). I think it should also be mentioned that she was able to get there by means of exploiting academia and its cottage industry of celebrity-making. It allowed her the ability to open an office, get published, and win projects to pursue that discourse…without the rather messy particulars involved of actually paying people. But maybe that isn’t important to this discussion.

Her pursuit of digital representation of late has proved itself successful by becoming amazing experiences of architecture. I think the Phaeno Center is really one of the best buildings to emerge since Bilbao. So in my opinion…even though her built history may not be long and broad, she deserved the Pritzker and all the momentum and stature that come with it. However, I have never really considered her as a great Architect per se, but more so as a great Designer of Architecture. As a designer, I think she relies solely on a stylistic persona to legitimate her work…and any positive or negative comments or criticism of her work always seems to revolve around that. That is what now allows her to play with the designing of other "things"...cars, kitchens, and tea sets. Unless there is something I don't know about, is there anything of substance in her projects that has served to open or advance architecture beyond mere formalisms and aesthetics? I like to think that Gehry’s people used the computer to re-define the physical realization of the complex architectural problem, while Zaha’s people used the computer to re-define the physical image of a rather simplified architectural problem. Without Gehry, Zaha’s representation would not have been able to fly off the 2D plane as it has so successfully of late.

So to answer the initial question, I think it isn’t a matter or “either/or” but more of “both/and”. Zaha is one of several successors to Gehry in terms of being able to actualize their own hyper-surreal identity via architecture for their clients’ branding objectives…and that is all today’s avant-garde architects are really about. They may say otherwise, but I think it is insincere. I don’t see Zaha ever really getting involved, let alone leading anyone or the profession at large, through the actual nitty-gritty social, political, or environmental problems that we all must face as Architects at the beginning of a new century. Beyond providing the fantasy aesthetic for uber-wealthy clients and designing silverware, where else can she really go? I would like to know if there is anything within her personally that could motivate her to evolve her work beyond the superficiality of formal or decorative aesthetics?

Here is Meier's first house...now.

bryden, it seems to me that the success of Zaha's later projects is not in their representation but in their actualization. I find her paintings much more compelling, dynamic and able to "fly off the 2d plane" than her digital renderings.

I'm just distracted by that photograph up there. In fact, I'm going to stop typing now so I can scroll up and have another look.

ok, ok, so I took a little leap of faith on that...his first important house. It was just a few years after that nasty thing. I really do love the Smith House (the Douglas House too, for that matter).

http://architecture.mit.edu/~rmorgan/html/smithhouse.html

Recently Zaha Hadid started putting out a furniture line with Established and Sons doing the production work, and there is a stackable bench she designed that is terminally brilliant. I love these benches, they are stainless steel with rivets (not sure if the rivets are functional or not), and all wavy curves. They are some of the nicest pieces of furniture I have ever seen. I also saw the Hadid show at the Guggenheim recently, and her paintings and drawings are also quite outstanding, but I'm not wholly sure how they would translate into actual, physical dwellings. The concepts are definetly original, and she seems to be a free thinking person. Maybe she is more of a general designer than a traditional architect?

I am not sure if anything I tossed out up there late last night made any coherent sense, but walnut I agree with you. I find her paintings much more interesting.

If Gehry though hadn’t legitimated the computer as tool that bridged the divide between representation and complexities involved in its actualization, then maybe she would still be doing Vitra’s chards and darts and Eisenman may still have an audience…I don’t know. Nonetheless, Zaha would still be successful because there is no denying Zaha and her design abilities, but maybe not with the level of formal richness and complexity that she able to command and deliver in her current built work. I complement to her office’s ability to take an already singular representational aesthetic and authorial process and carry it through to an extraordinary realization via the computer.

Also, does anyone realize that despite her successful clients, awards, and omni-media recognition...she still can't find a way to pay her employees a living wage? But maybe that isn’t important to this discussion.

Knowing this image in 1989 allowed me to learn the term "iconoclast".

Then last year I saw the Cincinnati project and saw that imagination brung to material form - wow.

I am warm and fuzzy about Zaha, and always will be, and I can't really explain it logically. Nice post, though, bryden, re: her style being her substance.

liberty look up there quick! its a warm and fuzzy feeling!!!

steven has the same feeling too!!!

vado you're ridiculous ;-)

the easiset way to pick an architect in a crowd is to spot the person staring at the ceiling

...or at the record player hanging over the door.

Trace....I don't think anyone execpt the people living in those two towns really gives a damn....but I know it is a real idenity thing for those who live in Darien and New Canaan.

Both places are beautiful (some of the prettiest places in the country, imho), but if you don't care why did you point it out?

As for Zaha, she was probably the most influential person on my development as a designer. Seeing Vitra was wonderful, too.

I do miss all the diagrams and paintings.

trace: what are you doing now that you left architecture? did you leave the field completely?

My company does 3D, web, graphics and motion graphics.

No, haven't left completely. Ironically, I am making fantastic connections for architecture purposes (most of my clients are developers).

But I also do some architecture and will be doing more and more, just not much of the CDs. I prefer designing and presentation stuff, so that's what I'll focus on.

Basically I chose an alternative path.

ech, Vitra is a strange beast. i went on the tour there, and the guide told us how zaha had said all the lines from her building were extensions of the lines she saw on a nearby hill, and the whole tour group cracked up laughing.

she hasn't different priorities as an architect/sculptor which results in a different type of built environment. it is not one which could be applied, nor should be applied to a much broader spectrum of uses.

I like her as a painter, she has the least flaws in that field.

I miss her ;-(

she's an iraqi princess- for real yo