Japan’s Sport Council on Thursday awarded a contract to design and construct a centerpiece, billion-dollar national stadium that forms a key part of Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games to lauded U.K. firm Zaha Hadid Architects. — blogs.wsj.com

Eli Broad returned to his alma mater Michigan State University over the weekend to inaugurate a new contemporary art museum that bears his name. The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum had a formal dedication on Saturday and opened to the public on Sunday.

The museum on the university's East Lansing campus was designed by architect Zaha Hadid. Broad gave $28 million to MSU in 2007 for the creation of the museum -- $21 million going toward construction of the facility and $7 million for acquisitions — latimes.com

Zaha Hadid is a Woman of the Year because… “She’s an extraordinary force of nature that came out of the blue and whacked us all on the back of the head and said, ‘Wake up, kids, there’s more stuff to do.’ ” —architect Frank Gehry — glamour.com

Today is the birthday of Iraqi-British architect, Zaha Hadid. Known for her sculptural designs and commanding demeanor, the renown female artist is turning 61 years old this Halloween. — huffingtonpost.com

“For us, it was really a blend of what’s the right concept for Park Avenue, a place that has not had a new building for almost 50 years, an avenue that is quite possibly the most important commercial boulevard in New York City, quite possibly the United States, and what is the place of a new build down the street from Seagrams and Lever House, two of the greatest buildings ever built,” Daivd Levinson said. — New York Observer

In his own unique graphic language, he details his extensive creative pursuits, including clothing lines, jewelry, and accessories designs for Louis Vuitton, furniture and other product design, limited-edition toys, graphic designs, skate graphics, and collaborations with Moncler, Marc Jacobs, the artist KAWS, and with architects Zaha Hadid and Masamichi Katayama/Wonderwall. — rizzoliusa.com

“We are grateful to each of the firms for the thoughtfulness and creativity they demonstrated throughout the process. There is no doubt that each group was fully capable of helping us realize our vision of a 425 Park Avenue tower that redefines the modern office environment while also respecting and enhancing the timeless allure of the Plaza district.” — New York Observer

A curving, fluid-seeming container made of ombré charcoal glass, Hadid’s design makes for a shape that is distinctly sexy. “The bottle’s dark, translucent qualities offer a sense of mystery that awakens our curiosity,” the Pritzker Prize winner explains. The vessel, whose sensuous lines echo the bottle that Karan’s late husband, sculptor Stephan Weiss, designed for her 1994 scent Cashmere Mist, is sure to awaken many. — architecturaldigest.com

Rumor has it that Pritzker Prize–winning French architect Jean Nouvel has been selected to design a mammoth new building for the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), renowned for its exhibitions of 20th-century and contemporary Chinese art, in Beijing. If reports prove to be true, Nouvel will not only have the distinguished honor of executing this highly coveted commission, but also to win bragging rights for outgunning his blockbuster contemporaries, Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid... — jingdaily.com

The 600 seats in question only concern 10-meter platform events, which start Monday. Small portions of the dives may not be visible. The Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre features a dipping roof that limits viewing from the highest seats. — sfgate.com

As a result of the fire that took place at the Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in Baku today no damage was caused to inner part of the building, halls and others, a joint statement of Emergency Situations Ministry and Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office says. — Today AZ

The developer David W. Levinson could have set for himself the simple task of commissioning a better-designed tower for 425 Park Avenue than the one that’s been there since 1957.

But that would have been a very low bar.

He has engaged four of the world’s leading architects to compete for the job: Norman Foster of Foster & Partners, Zaha Hadid of Zaha Hadid Architects, Rem Koolhaas of OMA, and Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners. — cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

"I think that [austerity] is used as a cliche because people don't have ideas, they want to crib [old ones] to do bad stuff," she said, in a Q and A session with Guardian deputy editor Kath Viner. "Schools, housing, hospitals – I think the government should invest in good housing." — guardian.co.uk

Zaha Hadid emerged this week as the favourite to buy the Design Museum in London after impressing with her plans to turn it into an architecture museum. — bdonline.co.uk