Zaha Hadid Architects

[editor]

I know she's not a Houston architect, but she's undoubtedly one of the hottest architects out there these days. Dare I say she's crossed the line from industry darling to full-fledged "starchitect" status like I.P. Pei.

But I really don't understand the appeal. A lot of the buzz surrounding her seems to be not about her designs, but about the fact that she's a woman. Or even more importantly -- her heritage. I've read that she's from Iran. I've also read that she's from Iraq (Wikipedia lists her birthplace as Baghdad). Either way, it makes her an exotic verboten property in the eyes of many in the West.

Is it all hype, or am I reading the signs wrong? She has lots of designs, but hardly anything that was actually built. And among the highlights of her resume is a ski jump?

I'm not an architect, so maybe I'm out of line being critical. But there are enough architects, architecture students, and architecture observers here to shed some light on this for me.

[bachanon]

I know she's not a Houston architect, but she's undoubtedly one of the hottest architects out there these days. Dare I say she's crossed the line from industry darling to full-fledged "starchitect" status like I.P. Pei.

But I really don't understand the appeal. A lot of the buzz surrounding her seems to be not about her designs, but about the fact that she's a woman. Or even more importantly -- her heritage. I've read that she's from Iran. I've also read that she's from Iraq (Wikipedia lists her birthplace as Baghdad). Either way, it makes her an exotic verboten property in the eyes of many in the West.

Is it all hype, or am I reading the signs wrong? She has lots of designs, but hardly anything that was actually built. And among the highlights of her resume is a ski jump?

I'm not an architect, so maybe I'm out of line being critical. But there are enough architects, architecture students, and architecture observers here to shed some light on this for me.

i was a fan of zaha hadid before i knew she was a woman or where she came from. i like buildings that appear to defy gravity. i like buildings that look like a sculpture. many of her designs are unbuilt from what i can tell.

[Subdude]

Personally I find it hard to get worked up over an architect who mainly designs "conceptual" buildings, especially when the designs are fogged over in academic-speak. And frankly, her built works don't seem all that brilliant. Editor, I think you got it right - the buzz is really because she is a woman and an Arab.

[bachanon]

regardless, i like the concepts. maybe the buzz is because she is female and arabic, her designs are still uber cool.

[Guest pode101]

I am a big fan of not passing judgement on buildings (or architects) until I actually visit the building itself. I was able to check out LF One on my last visit to Germany, and was really blown away. Looking forward to someday visiting the new museum in Cincinnati.

[bachanon]

nice

[Jersey01]

Hadid's buildings are quite unique, in my opinion. At a time where we have developed the idea of a "Starchitect", I think that she is a great fit for the title. We have Libeskind, famous for angular geometry. We have Gehry, famous for outlandish flowing form. Why not Hadid, whose buildings appear to be long, lean, linear boxcars in motion? Architecture doesn't have to be pretty. Her buildings are challenging, thought provoking (good or bad), and sexy. Same thing with her furniture. Here in Houston, you can buy some of her furniture at Kuhl-Linscomb. For me, her work is gorgeous.

[Subdude]

Hadid's buildings are quite unique, in my opinion. At a time where we have developed the idea of a "Starchitect", I think that she is a great fit for the title. We have Libeskind, famous for angular geometry. We have Gehry, famous for outlandish flowing form. Why not Hadid, whose buildings appear to be long, lean, linear boxcars in motion? Architecture doesn't have to be pretty. Her buildings are challenging, thought provoking (good or bad), and sexy. Same thing with her furniture. Here in Houston, you can buy some of her furniture at Kuhl-Linscomb. For me, her work is gorgeous.

Which begs the questions: Is it somehow better for architecture to be "challenging" and "thought provoking". And can you explain exactly what are the thoughts that are provoked? Saying something is "thought provoking" is somewhat empty praise. I mean, stepping in sick would be thought provoking, but they wouldn't be nice thoughts.

And if those buildings are sexy, then I'm Alexander the Great.

[bachanon]

curves are sexy.

thought provoking, in a "how did they do that?" sort of way, or "i've never seen anything like that before"; thoughts like "butt ugly" or "magnificent".

you must be alexander the great then.

[Subdude]

curves are sexy.

thought provoking, in a "how did they do that?" sort of way, or "i've never seen anything like that before"; thoughts like "butt ugly" or "magnificent".

you must be alexander the great then.

Oho!

Or thought provoking in the sense of "stunt architecture".

[bachanon]

cirque du architecture

[Jersey01]

Oho!

Or thought provoking in the sense of "stunt architecture".

I think that bachanan beat me to the response, which pretty much sums up what I would have to say as well. Architecture is a matter of opinion. If everyone loved everything, life would be boring.

A Zaha Hadid building certainly isn't boring, otherwise this conversation wouldn't exist.

[strickn]

I wonder whether the self-conscious specialness of out-there architecture really just serves to reinforce the dichotomy between Architecture and the way everybody lives. I mean, don't all of us here, surprisingly enough, agree that having thoughtful new [design innovation] details incorporated throughout the buildings in which we conduct our regular business and residential life would be a situation infinitely better than living in a world with a side dish of some poster-worthy or infamy-worthy buildings, which advertise their experimental separateness, and a main course of conceptually humdrum structures? Of course, for this kind of unseparateness, there aren't enough practitioners of Architecture or architecture to go around. So, if we are to experience such a neat world, millions of people will have to be able to modify their own built environments in little ways or big until they find better fits for the patterns of living which the original architect or engineer did not envision before the fact. Are architects willing to loosen their grip on architecture for the sake of healthy experimentation and truly humane inhabitation? Well, years of professional training to appreciate the complexities of the job of designing and building effectively prohibit them from believing that letting architectural duties go to the untrained can possibly be something that happens for the good of architecture. Architects understand themselves to be indispensable to the good of architecture in the world even more than pastors and priests understand themselves and their embedded theology to be indispensable to the good of truth in the world: if you tell an architect that we got by just fine into the Twentieth Century without architecture being the responsibility of accredited technicians, he or she is liable to tell you that things are just that much more complex, now, than in all the milennia of beautiful buildings before. Maybe they are, in the age of technocracy and credentials; maybe they are.* But if what we want is a terrific built environment, then ongoing design interaction with is going to have to be just as much a community undertaking and individual brain trust as religion is. Find this thought-provoking? Now what's the first step?

*notwithstanding Hadid treating buildings like sculptural manifolds - which most artists can do - and then presumably having people on staff to remember what gauge of wire meets code and how to run the plumbing.

[bachanon]

unfortunately, us common folk as architects have created the cookie cutter subdivisions, uninspired office buildings and strip centers. you may see an architect's stamp on those plans, but a builder or "designer" created the plans. the mighty dollar rules. seldom do we see inspired architecture in the realm of do it yourselfers. one can dream (in a perfect world) that everyone had the opportunity to manipulate their own environment in a way which was best suited for the way they live. the way things are, reality, is that we have to enjoy what comes from "on high"; hadid, piano, gehry and so on.

[Dan the Man]

the mighty dollar rules.

Very few people are willing to pay for the extra effort to make a glass blob.

[bachanon]

true (laughing). very few are willing to pay an extra 15% or so for a house far better than your average builder can produce. but i digress. hadid is designing trophy architecture. her practice really doesn't apply to architecture for common folk does it? or does it?

[arche787]

true (laughing). very few are willing to pay an extra 15% or so for a house far better than your average builder can produce. but i digress. hadid is designing trophy architecture. her practice really doesn't apply to architecture for common folk does it? or does it?

Having seen some of her early work (in Strasbourg, France - transit station) I can't say I was overly impressed. I like a few of her recent designs, especially the art museum in Cincinnati - at least I like the form.

I agree that few of the so called "starchitects" produce architecture that appeals or is understood and relates well to the general public. I believe it is the curse of making a big name for yourself, once you produce a Centre Pompidou (Rogers/Piano) or East Wing of the National Gallery (Pei) you are expected by those that hire you to produce something equally unique. I am not comparing Hadid to Piano, though she is more along the lines of a Rogers, good, not great - generally overrated. I think the big deal of course is she is the first noteworthy woman who has broken into the "big boys" league in the top echelon of architecture.

[N Judah]

I don't see what her Arab heritage has to do with anything...

Edited March 16, 2008 by N Judah

[arche787]

I wasn't saying her Arab heritage had anything to do with her fame. The fact that she is one of the first women to really make a name for herself - alone - not like Elizabeth Diller of Diller, Scofidio+Renfro or others...

I don't like the fact she won the Pritzker - I think there are more deserving firms out there - but she did and because of it she has been catapulted to world-wide fame in the architectural world.

link to her confusing and poorly designed website: http://www.zaha-hadid.com/

[editor]

Jeanne Gang is another woman architect who deserves more attention than she gets. Maybe she should pretend she's American in order to get more widely recognized.

Here's her Aqua tower now under construction:

Remarkably, the building is actually starting to look like the renderings. Here's a construction photo:

I guess the difference between Jeanne Gang and Zaha Hadid is that Gang is busy building architecture while Hadid is busy collecting architecture awards for things never built.

[ricco67]

Jeanne Gang is another woman architect who deserves more attention than she gets. Maybe she should pretend she's American in order to get more widely recognized.

Here's her Aqua tower now under construction:

Remarkably, the building is actually starting to look like the renderings. Here's a construction photo:

I guess the difference between Jeanne Gang and Zaha Hadid is that Gang is busy building architecture while Hadid is busy collecting architecture awards for things never built.

Now THAT is a good looking building. I'm anxious to see how this one works out. Almost reminds me if a building trying to escape of a verticle sea of glass.

[editor]

Now THAT is a good looking building. I'm anxious to see how this one works out. Almost reminds me if a building trying to escape of a verticle sea of glass.

The development where it's going up has something of a nautical theme. The buildings have names like The Tides, The Shoreham, The Regata, etc... This is the only one that's actually incorporated water into its form, though.

[Guest pode101]

I guess the difference between Jeanne Gang and Zaha Hadid is that Gang is busy building architecture while Hadid is busy collecting architecture awards for things never built.

This statement is way off the mark as Studio Gang is suitably getting plenty of recognition for their work; and while Hadid might have a relatively small built portfolio, her practice certainly deserves all the praise that has come their way. Quantity is by no means a measure of success.

[N Judah]

I wasn't saying her Arab heritage had anything to do with her fame.

Oh yeah, I was referring to the other commenters scatterd about this thread. Seriously, I wouldn't have know if they hadn't have mentioned it.

[strickn]

Now THAT is a good looking building. I'm anxious to see how this one works out. Almost reminds me if a building trying to escape of a verticle sea of glass.

And thereby reveals itself for what it is (a developer's-standard-issue glazed curtain wall shoebox which, thanks to inexpensive wavy floor slabs waving to distract your gaze from the envelope, is marketed away from its stiff Chicago competition among standard-issue boring curtain wall shoeboxes).

[bachanon]

And thereby reveals itself for what it is (a developer's-standard-issue glazed curtain wall shoebox which, thanks to inexpensive wavy floor slabs waving to distract your gaze from the envelope, is marketed away from its stiff Chicago competition among standard-issue boring curtain wall shoeboxes).

i call that "reinventing the box". it's simple, interesting and attractive. if it's no more expensive than you're average box.........then all the better.

i like the rendering. hope the finished product is more attractive.

[missmsry]

Hee, that top picture reminds me of those cheapie air blown advertising thingies you see on used car lots.

[sevfiv]

Hee, that top picture reminds me of those cheapie air blown advertising thingies you see on used car lots.

Uncanny!

[H-Town Man]

kitsch

[infinite_jim]

She has no politics except for whatever will sell.

She's a second generation pomo ala decon and is best lumped with the genre of starchitects ala brandscape.

She's cool, but lets leave it at that b/c I've meet her when she came to UH years ago and she was 110% rockstar.