RIP Zaha Hadid 1950-2016

[Guest]

A shock to hear that Zaha Hadid has died. She was only on Desert Island Discs last month. I first heard of her through the controversy over Cardiff's new millennium opera house, when her competition-winning design, the Crystal Necklace, was ditched in favour of the, er, Armadillo. She found global success, at any rate.

[Nick Armstrong]

I'm really sorrowful at this sudden news (a heart attack while being treated for bronchitis - makes one go cold... )

I've seen a few of her buildings; they are about the only recent designs that give one (me, at least) real emotional exhilaration as well as technical awe.

Massive loss

A shock to hear that Zaha Hadid has died. She was only on Desert Island Discs last month. I first heard of her through the controversy over Cardiff's new millennium opera house, when her competition-winning design, the Crystal Necklace, was ditched in favour of the, er, Armadillo. She found global success, at any rate.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm really sorrowful at this sudden news ...

Massive loss

Indeed so.

[french frank]

Yes, a great shock. The name suddenly registered.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, I was shocked when I heard the news. I also heard her on DID - despite her reputation for being rather formidable I thought she came across as being very firm in her views but also very warm. Her buildings are exciting, & I think that Scotland can be proud that her first (and her second or third - I'm not sure which) building in the UK was built here, commissioned by the Maggie's Centre organisation for Kircaldy.

[Keraulophone]

A terrible early loss to our built world, though her inspired structures will continue to stand testimony to her brilliance. R.I.P.

[Nick Armstrong]

Powerful to be looking at examples of her work while listening to the exceptional performance of Mahler 10 from Birmingham currently on R3 (those funereal bass drum thumps....), pondering the premature disappearance of creative geniuses who looked into the future...

For example.... (52 images, all expandable).

[Ian Thumwood]

I think her architecture was pretty spectacular but always think of her comment about no one remembering how much a building went over budget as the architecture was all that mattered. As a Quantity surveyor I thought that this was a typical view of how our profession sees architects and Hadid's comments seemed to echo the fear of architects being unleashed to spend millions to massage their egos. It would be fascinating to see how many of her buildings came in on budget. It will also be interesting to see how these buildings perform, not only from energy consumption but also from a point of view of maintenance and I wonder if the Cardiff Opera House design might have fallen down as the design was too ambitious for the building envelope to be maintained and repaired. Will the design ultimately fail or the specified building components not achieved their desire lifespan? There are plenty of building from the 70's and 80's which looked terrific but poor detailing has meant they no longer look pristine and have become shabby eyesores. The final opinion on Hadid's legacy will be how well her buildings look in thirty years time and whether thy have performed as intended.

Hadid represented visionary architecture at it's full potential and when you some od her designs you do appreciate that architecture does have the ability to be great art. Let us not forget that it is all well and good putting these ideas down on CAD and having the concept but it is the building contractor who has to make these pipedreams a reality. For my money, this is , perhaps, an even greater achievement.

[Beef Oven!]

I'll say it for Ian Thumwood too, such a terrible loss of a stunningly creative woman and at a young age. RIP Zaha and thanks for the amazing works you've left us.

[Flosshilde]

Responding to Ian's comment, there have always been architects/buildings that try to go too far for the existing technology, or that have been poorly specified & have had problems because of it. Medieval cathedrals fell down or developed substantial cracks - look at the massive relieving arches in Well's Cathedral crossing or the campanile in Pisa (not known as the 'leaning tower' for nothing!) for examples.

[Ian Thumwood]

Flosshilde

I don't think my view of the architectural profession us unique. There is a gradation between architects working on everyday details and the likes of Hadid who are more visionary and artists. Impressive as the builders are, I think it is important to stress that she would have needed architectural technicians to ensure that her schemes can work as well as structural engineers to ensure that the buildings will actually stand up. She represents for me the great debate about architecture and maybe is the perfect example of someone who transformed architecture to an art form. However, it would be foolish to think that her "designs" would have been wholly her work and some more practical people would have had to work on the designs to ensure that her vision could be a reality. I don't think that this is any lesser achievement.

It is interesting having heard her in interviews as I could totally appreciate her perspective even if I fundamentally disagreed with some of her comments and often found myself shaking my head regarding her remarks. Setting aside the issues of design, the actual construction of some of her buildings looks like a staggering achievement in itself and it is a shame that no one recalls the companies who built these buildings outside of the industry even if architects have the ability to become household names. In Hadid's case, the shear originality of some of her designs and the resultant difficulty in the build certainly merits the building contractor getting his fair share of credit.