For
years it was easy to dismiss Zaha Hadid as just another theorist.
Her designs were presented in a beautiful (although confusing)
format that made you fear that such techniques were a distraction
from any real talent. Then she started to build and that's
when things started to get interesting. The Vitra Firehouse,
a legendary building in our time, not only proved her talent
but launched her career as a legitimate, building architect.
Vitra
Firehouse
(1993) Weil am Rhein, Germany Technically
a failure as a firehouse, the building is now used primarily
as a major draw for daily two hour architecture tours (all
in German); its fire truck garage contains no trucks but a
large, full size exhibit of famous chairs instead. While it
may be a failure as a firehouse, it excels as an exercise
in what architecture can be.
Click here and then start thinking about a visit to Weil am
Rhein, a short train ride (followed by a 20 minute walk) from
Basel, Switzerland
Mind
Zone
(2000) Greenwich, United Kingdom Zaha
Hadid lives and practices in London, but the closest thing
(so far) that she's ever built was a pavilion inside Richard
Rogers' hated Millennium Dome.
Bergisel
Mountain Ski Jump
(2002) Innsbruck, Austria After
winning an international competition (something Hadid has
become damn good at), the Bergisel Mountain Ski Jump opened
in 2002. More than just a jump, it features public spaces
and a cafe and is close enough to Innsbruck to become a welcome
icon.
Click here to learn more about the Bergisel Mountain Ski Jump
and make cafe reservations
Rosenthal
Contemporary Art Center
(2003) Cincinnati, Ohio, United States Hadid's
first American building was immediately hailed by the New
York Times as the greatest building completed since the end
of the Cold War (which translates to somewhere around 1990,
depending on whom you ask). The museum is small but memorable,
the best reason (and possibly the only reason) to visit downtown
Cincinnati.
Zaha Hadid
1950born Baghdad, Iraq 1971 American Univ Beirut 1977Arch Assoc London 2004Pritzker Prize
Publications
Zaha Hadid
by Gordana Fontana Giusti
(2004) Rizzoli
Finally
a book worth of the (now) Pritzker Prize winner. Zaha Hadid
has gone from a theorist to a builder as her projects have
become increasingly more complex... (read
more)
Technically
a failure as a firehouse, the building is now used primarily
as a major draw for daily two hour architecture tours (all
in German); its fire truck garage contains no trucks but a
large, full size exhibit of famous chairs instead. While it
may be a failure as a firehouse, it excels as an exercise
in what architecture can be. 
London,
UK
