Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid's work as an academic and an outstanding architect has brought her wide recognition across the world.

She has worked variously on projects such as the Cardiff Bay Opera House interiors for Bitar, London (1985), and the design of several buildings in Japan; including two projects in Tokyo (1988) and a Folly in Osaka (1990).

Born and raised in Baghdad, Hadid immigrated to England in her twenties and began studying architecture at the Architectural Association in 1972, where she was tutored by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

She was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977 and since then her work has been given many awards, which culminated in her being chosen as 2004 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the world's most prestigious architecture award, becoming the first woman in history to achieve such acclaim.

Hadid's paintings and drawings have been shown internationally at locations including the Guggenheim, the GA Gallery, Tokyo and the Deutsches Architektur Museum in Frankfurt.

In 2003 she received a CBE for services to architecture.

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Zaha Hadid talks to More4 about architecture

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