Zaha Hadid awarded Praemium Imperiale

Previous Laureates of the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture include Peter Zumthor, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.
 
The other Praemium Imperiale Laureates for 2009 are (Painting), Richard Long (Sculpture), Alfred Brendel (Music) and (Theatre/Film). On October 22nd the Laureates will travel to Japan to attend the Awards Ceremony, presided over by the honorary patron of the Japan Art Association, Prince Hitachi, younger brother of the present Emperor of Japan.
 

“It is indeed an honour to receive this recognition from the Japan Art Association.” said Hadid. “Working in Japan has been critical to the development of my work around the world. I will always be grateful for this support early in my career. My Japanese clients shared a passion for architecture - allowing us to investigate many things and design very powerful projects, interesting in their complexity and essential in developing our repertoire of work. Through our architecture, we can enthuse people and make them excited about new ideas.” 

Axel Dürheimer
detail.de
Photo: damon.garrett / flickr

Z A H A H A D I D INTRODUCTION
Zaha Hadid is an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design. Her work
experiments with new spatial concepts intensifying existing urban landscapes in the pursuit of a visionary
aesthetic that encompasses all fields of design, ranging from urban scale through to products, interiors and
furniture. Best known for her seminal built works (Vitra Fire Station, Land Formation-One, Bergisel Ski Jump,
Strasbourg Tram Station and Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati) her central concerns involve a
simultaneous engagement in practice, teaching and research.

EDUCATION AND TEACHING
Hadid studied architecture at the Architectural Association from 1972 and was awarded the Diploma Prize in
1977. She then became a partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, taught at the AA with OMA
collaborators Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, and later led her own studio at the AA until 1987. Since then she
held the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; the Sullivan Chair at the
University of Illinois, School of Architecture, Chicago; guest professorships at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste
in Hamburg; the Knolton School of Architecture, Ohio and the Masters Studio at Columbia University, New York.
In addition, she was made Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fellow of the
American Institute of Architecture and Commander of the British Empire, 2002. She is currently Professor at the
University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria and is the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design
for the Spring Semester 2004 at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

COMPETITIONS
Hadid has been testing the boundaries of architectural design in a series of research-based competitions.
Winning designs include The Peak, Hong Kong (1983); Kurfürstendamm, Berlin (1986); Düsseldorf Art and Media
Centre (1992/93); Cardiff Bay Opera House, Wales (1994); Thames Water/Royal Academy Habitable Bridge,
London (1996); Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati (1998); University of North London Holloway
Road Bridge (1998); The Centre for Contemporary Arts, Rome (1999); Bergisel Ski-jump, Innsbruck (1999); The
Wolfsburg Science Centre (2000); the Maritime Ferry Terminal in Salerno, (2000); Placa de les Artes in Barcelona
(2001); One-north Masterplan for Singapore's Science Hub (2001); the Ordrupgaard Museum Extension in
Copenhagen (2001); the BMW Central Plant Building in Leipzig (2002); the Price Tower Art Center, Bartlesville
(2002); the Departement de l’Herault Culture Sport Building, Montpellier (2003); the new High Speed Rail Station
Napoli-Afragola, Naples (2003); the Guangzhou Opera House, China (2003); and a masterplan for Beijing’s Soho
City, China (2003).

Other competition entries include large scale urban studies for Hamburg, Madrid, Bordeaux and Cologne;
museum buildings in Bad Deutsch Altenburg, Austria, Madrid (Prado, Reina Sofia, Royal Palace), the Victoria &
Albert Museum's Boilerhouse Gallery, London and a Museum of Islamic Arts in Doha, Qatar; concert halls for
Copenhagen and Luxembourg; a theatre for the Hackney Empire, London and large scale multi-functional
buildings for 42nd street, New York as well as for the IIT Campus in Chicago, and third prize for an event and
delivery centre for BMW in Munich.

PROJECTS
Zaha Hadid's built work has won her much academic and public acclaim. Her best known projects to date are the
Vitra Fire Station and the LFone pavilion in Weil am Rhein, Germany (1993/1999), a housing project for IBA-Block
2 in Berlin, Germany (1993), the Mind Zone at the Millennium Dome, Greenwich, London, UK (1999), a Tram
Station and Car Park in Strasbourg, France (2001), a Ski Jump in Innsbruck, Austria (2002) and the
Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, US (2003). She has also completed furniture and interiors: Bitar, London
(1985); Moonsoon Restaurant, Sapporo (1990); Z-Play (2002) and Z-Scape (2000) furniture manufactured by
Sawaya and Moroni; and the Tea and Coffee Towers for Alessi (2003). Her temporary structures include: Folly
in Osaka (1990); Music Video Pavilion in Groningen, Netherlands (1990); a Pavilion for Blueprint Magazine at
Interbuild, Birmingham (1995); the installation Meshworks at the Villa Medici, Rome, Italy (2000) the summer
pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2000); and the R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Pavilion,
Barcelona, Spain (2001); and a snow and ice installation at the Snow Show, Lapland (2004). Zaha Hadid has also
worked on a number of stage sets: Pet Shop Boys World Tour (1999/2000); Metapolis, for Charleroi Dance
production company, Belgium (2000); and Beat Furrer’s opera, Desire, commissioned by the Steirischer Herbst,
Graz (2003).

PUBLICATIONS
Hadid’s work is widely published in periodicals and monographs which include “Zaha Hadid: Planetary
Architecture Two” (no.11, 1983); “Zaha Hadid”, AA files (no.5, 1986); “Zaha Hadid 1983-1991”, El Croquis (no.52,
Dec, 1991,Madrid); “Zaha Hadid 1992-1995”, El Croquis (no. 73, Sept, 1995, Madrid); “El Croquis 1996-2001”
(no. 103, 2001, Madrid); “Zaha Hadid: The Complete Buildings and Projects” (Thames & Hudson, 1998); “Zaha
Hadid - LF One” (Birkhäuser, 1999); “Architecture of Zaha Hadid in photographs by Helene Binet” (Lars Muller
Publishers, 2000); “Zaha Hadid, Opere e Progetti” (Italy, 2002); “Zaha Hadid Architektur”, (MAK, Vienna, 2003);
GA Document (nos. 65 and 66. Japan, 2001); New York Times (June 2002 and June 2003); Financial Times
(June 2002 and June 2003); The Independent (June 2002); Time Magazine (October 2002 and June 2003);
Newsweek (May 2003), “Zaha Hadid Space for Art” (Lars Muller Publishers, 2004).

EXHIBITIONS
Hadid's paintings and drawings have always been an important testing field, and a medium for the exploration of
her design. Major exhibitions include a retrospective at the Architectural Association, London (1983), the
Guggenheim Museum, New York (1978), the GA Gallery, Tokyo (1985), “Deconstructivist Architecture” at MoMA,
New York (1988), the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (1995), Grand Central Station New York
(1995), the San Francisco MoMA (1997/98), The Venice Architecture Biennale (2000), “Zaha Hadid Lounge” at
the Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg (2001), The Venice Architecture Biennale (2002), “Zaha Hadid” MAXXI in Rome
(2002), “Zaha Hadid Laboratory” in Yale (2002) - the National Building Museum, Washington (2002) - Price Tower
Arts Centre Gallery (2002) - and the Artists Space in New York (2003), “Zaha Hadid Architecture” MAK Exhibition
Hall in Vienna (2003).

Hadid's work also forms part of the permanent collections of various institutions such as MoMA New York, MoMA
San Francisco and the Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt, Germany.
Exhibition designs are: 'The Great Utopia', Guggenheim Museum, New York (1992); 'WishMachine' at the
Vienna Kunsthalle (1996); 'Addressing the Century' at the Hayward Gallery, London (1998); Paper Art at the
Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Düren (1996); Jewellery Exhibition, Zurich (2000); ‘Borderline Exhibition’ Palais des
Beaux Arts, Brussels (2000).

AWARDS
Gold Medal Architectural Design, British Architecture for 59 Eaton Place, London, 1982
Honourable Member of the Bund Deutsches Architekten, 1998
Honourable Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2000
Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects, 2000
Mind Zone, Millennium Dome, London - RIBA Awards 2000
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - FX Awards 2001 Finalist
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - Equerre d'Argent special mention, 2001
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - AIA UK Chapter Award, 2002
One-north Master Plan, Singapore - AIA UK Chapter Honourable Mention, 2002
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - Red Dot Award, 2002
Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck - Austrian State Architecture Prize, 2002
Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck - WIRED Rave Awards Nominee, 2003
Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck - Tyrolean Architecture Award, 2002
Commander of the British Empire, 2002
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - Mies van der Rohe Award 2003
Architect of the year 2004, Blueprint Award
Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati - WIRED Rave Award 2004
Zaha Hadid, Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2004

CURRENT PROJECTS
Zaha Hadid's Practice is working on a variety of projects including: the Maritime Ferry Terminal in Salerno, Italy;
the High Speed Train Station in Napoli-Afragola, Italy; a housing project in Florence, Italy; a public square and
cinema complex in Barcelona, Spain; the interior design for “Hotel Puerta America” in Madrid, Spain; the
“Spittelau Viaduct” housing project in Vienna, Austria; the “Maggie's Centre” in Kirkcaldy, Scotland; a Building for
the Department de l’Herault Culture Sport in Montpellier, France; a major bridge structure in Abu Dhabi; an
extension of the Price Tower Arts Centre in Bartlesville, USA; the Guggenheim Museum in Taichung; and the
Guangzhou Opera House in China.

The Practice is currently on site with: the “Central Plant Building” for BMW in Leipzig, Germany, to be completed
this year; the Contemporary Arts Centre “MAXXI” in Rome, Italy; the Ordrupgaard Museum extension in
Copenhagen, Denmark; and the “Phaeno Science Centre” in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Recently the Practice completed a design for the “One North” Master Plan in Singapore. The Studio is also
working on a Master Plan for Bilbao’s “Zorrotzaurre” district in Spain; a Master Plan for Beijing’s “Soho City” in
China and is on the final competition shortlist of architects to design the Olympic Village for New York City’s 2012 bid.