As with the Pritzker Prize, which Zaha Hadid received in 2004, she became the first female RIBA Gold Medal winner. However, in the case of the British award before Hadid, three women received this award as part of family-creative "duets": they are Ray Eames (1979), Patricia Hopkins (1994) and Sheila O'Donnell (2014).
Zaha Hadid has many awards: in addition to Pritzker, this is the title of Commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters, the Japanese Praemium Imperiale (2012), two Sterling Prizes - in 2010 and 2011, for the MAXXI Museum in Rome and a high school in London. In 2012, she was elevated to the dignity of knighthood. Now Hadid has been awarded the oldest architectural award in the world (the RIBA Gold Medal has been awarded since 1848), among the laureates of which are not only Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and other modern "stars", but also Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Hendrik Berlage, F. L. … Wright, Victor Vesnin, Auguste Perret, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto (a list of all medal winners can be found here).
At first glance, Zaha Hadid should have become firmly established not only in the history of architecture at the turn of the XX - XXI centuries, but also in the British establishment. However, Peter Cook, one of the architects who nominated her for the award, in his accompanying essay emphasized the cool attitude of colleagues in the profession, who opposed her project of an opera house in Cardiff in the mid-1990s: winning that competition was supposed to be a turning point in her career, but in the end turned into the most bitter defeat. Much later, major masters did not hesitate to directly condemn Cook himself and other members of the Sterling Prize jury, when they awarded Hadid in 2011
victory for the second year in a row. With his usual wit, Peter Cook argues: “In our culture of discretion and modesty, her work is definitely not modest, and she is the very opposite of modesty. Her vociferous criticism of poorly done work or stupidity … is characteristic of the seriousness with which she takes the case: negligence and delusion hurt her, and she does not know how to play the convenient British game of corny chat, which many successful or powerful people. Her methods, and perhaps much of her psychology, remain Mesopotamian and rather intimidating, yet quite clear."
About her work, Cook writes: “We understand that Kenzo Tange and Frank Lloyd Wright could not draw every line or check every knot, nevertheless, Zaha shares with them the most valuable role of an outstanding, original and unremitting influence on everything around her that distinguishes the results [of her bureau's work] from the norm. This self-confidence is easily tolerated by filmmakers and football team managers, but [in Hadid's case] it confuses some architects: perhaps they envy her undeniable talent. It must be admitted that we could have awarded a medal to a worthy, "comfortable" person. But we didn’t do that, we rewarded her with Zaha - incredible, daring and definitely busy. Our Heroine. How lucky we are to have her in London."
