To sever instances of “architecture” from the deaths of indentured construction workers on a building site in Qatar, or from the property lines measured out at Twin Lakes, is an elemental act, comparable to flushing a toilet, turning on the water, or switching on a light... Understanding these infrastructures, and contesting their hegemony with that knowledge, is therefore as basic as it gets. — Places Journal

[...] Zaha Hadid took to Milan Design Week’s Salone del Mobile to unveil a series of brand new series of furniture. Created for Italian interior design firm CITCO, the series consists of three distinct pieces: a shelving unit, table, and fireplace. — emag.co.uk

Is there no end to this woman’s talents? Well, in the case of Zaha Hadid, a grinding halt seems to have been reached with the eminent architect’s flirtations with fashion. Hadid has long pushed the boundaries of her considerable talents, with credible adventures into furniture design and oil painting, but her latest swimwear range for Viviona shows that sometimes even the deepest wells can run dry. — telegraph.co.uk

A curvy futuristic $450M building meant to remake Seoul into a global design capital opened to the S. Korean public Friday after years of debate about its impact on a historic city precinct. And not everyone is happy with the outcome.

Designed by award-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza is a stark contrast to its neighbourhood, which is better known in Seoul for its links to a royal dynasty that ruled for half a millennium and as home to one of the city’s oldest markets. — o.canada.com

In yet another display of the city's commitment to 24-hour culture, Seoul is unveiling its biggest nighttime attraction yet in the neon-studded, wildly trendy shopping district of Dongdaemun.

Designed by Iraqi-British Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid, and completed at a cost of $451 million, the new Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) opens to the public March 21.

[...]the first order of business for Seoul's newest landmark and multipurpose cultural center is to kick off 2014 F/W Seoul Fashion Week. — cnn.com

"Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing, stayed away from the opening ceremonies because he said he wanted his building to represent freedom, not be a trophy for an autocratic regime uninterested in change." — hyperallergic.com

"I have nothing to do with the workers," said Hadid. "I think that's an issue the government – if there's a problem – should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved."

Asked if she was concerned, Hadid added: "Yes, but I'm more concerned about the deaths in Iraq as well, so what do I do about that? I'm not taking it lightly but I think it's for the government to look to take care of. It's not my duty as an architect to look at it. — theguardian.com

In many of our bigger cities, the drinking fountain disappeared along with police boxes, mile stones and horse troughs. However, a new initiative is attempting to revive this public utility, with the help of some of London’s best design talent.

Six of the city’s leading architectural firms have designed a series of new drinking fountains, as part of the Kiosk Challenge. — phaidon.com

Flaring its muscular grey wings like a stingray leaping out of the river Lea, the Aquatics Centre was planned as the showpiece of the London 2012 Olympic Games, a piece of liquid drama designed by the country's most celebrated queen of the curve, Zaha Hadid. [...]

"I didn't mind the seating stands so much," shrugs Hadid, sitting poolside beneath the bulging belly of her building, which finally opens to the public on Saturday. — theguardian.com

Zaha Hadid, the world’s best-known female architect, is none too pleased with critics like Jon Stewart, who have mocked her Al Wakrah Stadium—designed with AECOM for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar—and likened her to the “Georgia O’Keeffe of things you can walk inside.”

“It’s really embarrassing that they come up with nonsense like this,” Hadid tells TIME exclusively. “What are they saying? Everything with a hole in it is a vagina? That’s ridiculous.” — newsfeed.time.com

"designed by famed architect Zaha Hadid whose signature style appears to be making some of the world's most f**kable buildings...like Georgia O'Keeffe of things you can walk inside...i guess maybe it is time things evened out a bit" - Jon Stewart — Daily Show

A 28-year-old Richard Meier received his first and by far most modest commission from the artist Saul Lambert back in 1962. “Lambert had purchased a very small site on the ocean, on Fire Island,” says Meier, “and said, ‘We don’t have very much money—actually, we have $9,000 to spend on the construction of this house. Could you design something for us?’ ” — New York Magazine

On a brick wall near the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery in London's Clerkenwell district, tile and mosaic company Domus has crafted a likeness of Dame Zaha Hadid. But there is a trick to the installation by artist Greg Shapter—it is a three-dimensional, one-point-perspective piece that is best seen from an "X" stenciled onto the sidewalk nearby. — archidose.blogspot.com