Voting Station

Zaha Hadid

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Architect

The Resume

    (October 31, 1950-March 31, 2016)
    Born in Baghdad, Iraq
    Designed the Vitra fire station in Weil am Rhein, Germany (1993), the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati (2003), the Bridge Pavilion in Zaragoza, Spain (2008), MAXXI – The Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome (2010), the Opera House in Guangzhou, China (2010), the Evelyn Grace Academy in London (2011), the London Aquatics Center for the 2012 Summer Olympics (2012) and the Jockey Club Innovation Tower in Hong Kong (2013)
    Also designed handbags for Fendi, vases for Lalique, perfume bottles for Donna Karan, and home furnishings for Harrods
    Named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to architecture (2012)

Why she might be annoying:

    An architect said, ‘I don't believe she cares what it's like actually to be in one of her buildings.’
    While her design for the Vitra fire station was hailed as revolutionary by fellow architects, the firefighters who had to work in it found the oddly angled walls disorienting.
    Similarly, MAXXI won the prestigious Sterling Prize, but its sloping surfaces make it difficult for curators to display artworks.
    She won the competition to create a new stadium for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but the Japanese government ultimately rejected her design because of its cost and potential impact on historic buildings nearby.
    As designer of the stadium to be built in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, she was asked about the poor working conditions for migrant construction laborers in the country. She replied, ‘It’s not my duty as an architect to look at it.’

Why she might not be annoying:

    She said about her tendency to avoid right angles in her designs, ‘There are three hundred and fifty-nine other degrees. Why limit yourself to one?’
    She received a settlement and an apology after suing ‘The New York Review of Books’ for defamation over an article claiming that 1,000 workers had died building the World Cup Stadium in Qatar. (The article ran before construction on the stadium had even begun.)
    She was the first woman and the first Muslim to win the Pritzker Prize, generally considered the most prestigious award in architecture (2004).
    She made The Guardian’s ’50 Best-Dressed Over 50’ list (2013).
    Her mentor Rem Koolhaas summed up the opinions of both her detractors and admirers when he described her as ‘a planet in her own inimitable orbit.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 23 Votes: 60.87% Annoying