She basically went over all of her projects since the peaks in HK. She was actually much less of a bitch than i thought she was gonna be, even made a few jokes. Sort of just a trip down memory lane, her commentary on her projects wasn't that deep but it was interesting. Some nice images/animations and such. Worth the two hour line but then again I love her work.

I have not attended a Zaha lecture since her office doubled in size in the last few years but the lecture I did attend was pretty dry. She was a commentator for the graphics being projected..."this is a rendering of the ski jump" (screen had an image of the ski jump). Anyway you get it. She did not show process drawings/models or speak about any kind of conceptual logic for form making. The most exciting part of the lecture was when she cursed someone in her office for not linking the flash presentation correctly.

did she look good???

Did she talk about her baby eating habit?

She looked like she'd eaten about 50 of 'em before the lecture, but she didn't mention anything about it.

I would say this whole Zaha thing is getting more than a bit too sexist, even considering the humor.

..and PC has just reached new heights. funny especially when you know how she tends to treat people who work for her.

Well, this is a public forum, quite different from a private conversation. I didn't mind the first five time I read it, but as it has become a rule to make jokes about Zaha's looks avery time the name is mentioned, it's out of line.

PC is one thing, but you might actually be hurting people out there. People that are already questioning if their gender is compatible with this profession.

here's a big bandaid! Boo boo gone now :)

no-one's questioning the compatibilty of her gender with the profession. i certainly don't. she is an amzing architect and her work blows my mind. however the fact that she has got a rather ugly personality (and by that i mean her character not her looks) makes people want crack jokes on her and yes they can be a bit mean,but so be it. i read the above comments again and they all sound pretty tongue in cheek to me, i can't really spot any hint of sexism in them. maybe it's just me i don't know. if you tell jokes about a women who's got an ugly personality it doesn't make you a sexist.

pardon my typing and poor grammar, i'm hungover today.

Well, the issue isn't her. I'm sure she deserves to be joked about, but what's the message when everytime the, almost, only female big star architect is mentioned comments like "was she beautiful?", "she's such a bitch", and "did you sleep with her or what" come up.

I'm not saying that you as an individual is disrespecting female architects by joking about her, but when it becomes collective it can be percieved as such. One remark is innocent, a hundred isn't.

And when I point out that it might have gone a little to far, people accuse me and make fun of me. Maybe a sign that the discussion climate on the matter isn't what is should be?

And I certainly wasn't commenting the baby eating habit. :)

fair enough, i see your point. the profession could do with more women that's for sure. that's actually true for many other fields and the world would be a better place if more women were in charge. i've seen zaha fly off the handle a couple of times and heard stories about her and sometimes you just don't know if you should laugh or cry... so overall i find it quite healthy to joke about her just like one would joke about anybody else (male or female) when they behave like pricks to people. I guess in Zaha's case people tend to vent their anger by making fun of her looks, it's probably a bit too easy but it brings relief... anyway we're kind of drifting away from the initial topic.

And I see yours. :)

Cassiel..actually architects only make fun of those whom they love the most.

Cass-ile,
I think you should go work for Cruela’s PR department, and then form you opinions about her as a person.
I have several close Female architect friends that love her work and tried very hard to get a job working in her studio, I have heard it all from then, most of it with a grain of exaggeration, but needless to say they have all moved on to better working environments.

I read somewhere bank in the day when Rem, Tschmi and Holl where teaching at the AA, and Cruela was a student, their description of her then is not much different that the comments mentioned here.

Hi

Just want to mention that the Ordrupgaard just had Soulage on display in it's new buildings. I don't know if it is over yet, but this exebition turned even those working there in faviour of Zaha's work, Soulage and Zaha go very well together , --- sorry for once I blame my lack of english words.

i see zaha as more of an icon/persona than anything else...i feel
when people make fun of her i think it's due to the fact that she's
a personality/psuedo-legend, not because she's a woman imo.

i didn't think much of her work back in the day, when it was mostly
renderings without any buildings..but after seeing her last few
built works i'm convinced of her genius...totally unique vision

Here is a genius, with a totally unique version;

reinterpretations of his vision + moder tecnology= Cruela Hadid

Pierre Soulages' paintings go with most everything.
and Zaha is offically known as an inside/out ugly person, regarless of gender. But her work is visually impressive.