The author's version of the article published in No. 70 "City of Women" (1/2014) of the PROJECT RUSSIA magazine.
Hadid (Arabic: حديد) - iron.
Zaha Hadid leaves no one indifferent: even respectable architects are ready to scold her outrageously, accusing her of “stamping” curvilinear forms, which, in their opinion, turn into unattractive and non-functional buildings. At the same time, Hadid also has a lot of fans - not only among architects, but also among the general public, who knows about her from glossy publications and television programs: for journalists, her unusual biography and work is a gratifying topic for reporting.
She is often called the most famous female architect, but this is an understatement: she is rightfully ranked in the top ten or even five of the most famous architects in the world - regardless of gender. It is often noted that Hadid beat men in their own game, and this is quite fair: according to statistics, even now in the West, women among architects make up only one fifth of them (despite the fact that equal numbers of girls and boys study in universities), and if we take architecture together with related spheres of engineering, construction and development, the percentage of women will decrease even more. But these numbers are not a problem in themselves: it is much worse that almost half of women architects are paid less than men with the same qualifications and in the same positions, and two-thirds face hidden male hazing at work [1]. Zaha Hadid is asked in almost every interview about whether it was easy for her to succeed as a woman architect, but she never refuses to answer: according to her, making herself respected as a professional was the most difficult task in her life. During her studies and at the beginning of her career, she did not notice discrimination, but the further she went, the more noticeable the “special” attitude became. But she never endured in silence, but vigorously defended her rights, and therefore she was known as a very difficult person, although no one discusses or condemns the heavy temper of architectural "stars" -men. She herself admits that she is “impatient and tactless. People say that I can scare you”[2]. As Neil Tennant, a member of the Pet Shop Boys duet, for whom the architect designed spectacular and fully functional scenery for the Nightlife world tour (1999), recalls, working with her was not only exciting, but also scary, because she could suddenly say to him: “Why are you saying this? Shut up! Who do you think you are?”[3]
Hadid is annoyed by the close attention of the press to her unusual outfits and hairstyles: after all, Norman Foster's costumes are hardly ever written, and her appearance is discussed in detail even in architectural publications [4]. Also, everyone is interested in her personal life: the architect does not hide that she was not married and has no children, but does not consider this a conscious sacrifice to the altar of architecture - this is not a profession, but life, and if you do not give yourself completely to her, it makes sense to study she is not. Therefore, it is not easy for women to completely “return to duty” after maternity leave, but if she really wanted to have a child, she would have done it [5]. However, it is still very difficult to take care of a family and succeed in a profession, and therefore Hadid believes that maximum support from the state and society is needed here. Another problem is that women architects are forced to deal with interiors and private housing: supposedly this is their genre, and they simply will not “pull” a large multifunctional complex [6].
Hadid's hot character only complements her phenomenal sense of purpose and faith in herself, laid down in childhood. Zaha was born in Baghdad in 1950 in the family of a prominent politician and businessman Muhammad Hadid, she studied at a Catholic school in Baghdad and in boarding schools in Switzerland and England. In her absolutely secular and pro-Western environment, they believed in progress and believed that a woman could choose any profession. As a child, Zaha decided that she would become an architect: she was influenced by her acquaintance with the ancient monuments of Sumer among the swamps in the south of the country, and the design of the interior of her own room, and the model of her aunt's new mansion that turned out to be in their house. Since Hadid could “solve mathematical problems even in her sleep” [7], first, as a kind of training, she graduated from the Mathematics Department of the American University of Beirut, and in 1972 entered the London School of the Architectural Association. Although at that time it was the world center of advanced architectural thought, the works of Hadid, inspired by the Russian avant-garde, caused a sad surprise among the professors until she got to the teachers Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zengelis, who considered her projects extraordinary, which surprised her very much [8]. She developed a warm relationship with Koolhaas, and worked for six months at OMA after graduating from AA in 1977; he called her "a planet in its own unique orbit" - at first she was upset, but then she realized that she could not have an ordinary career [9]. This is the essence of the Hadid phenomenon: on the way to success, she had to overcome not only discrimination based on gender or nationality (which was also enough), but also a general distrust of her projects - supposedly fantastic and unrealizable. For a very long time, she was perceived exclusively as a paper architect and the author of dizzying pictorial compositions. She, however, created these canvases not as independent works, but as part of the presentation of the project, exhibiting them in galleries in the hope of explaining her ideas to the public [10].
Hadid's canvases are valued by collectors: for example, her thesis "Malevich's Tektonik" (1977; project of a hotel on the bridge over the Thames) entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco in 1998, and her drawings and paintings are kept in New York's MoMA.
Having received an AA diploma, Zaha Hadid stayed in Britain because the best engineers worked there, and difficult times came in Iraq: with the Baath Party in power, once she returned to her homeland, Hadid risked no longer getting an exit visa. She taught at A. A. and competed. Winning one of them - the project of The Peak Club on a mountain above Hong Kong in 1982 - brought her international fame. It seemed that it would be impossible to realize planes flying in different directions, but Arup engineers saw in them only the usual designs of bridges and viaducts. But the project remained on paper due to the bankruptcy of the customer, and the first implementation for Hadid was the much more modest interior of the Monsoon restaurant in Sapporo (1989). Zaha's next notable success - participation in the exhibition "Deconstructivist Architecture" (1988) in the New York MoMA: curator Philip Johnson gathered there, on a formal basis, all "lovers of diagonals": Koolhaas, Chumi, Eisenman, Libeskind …
In 1988, Hadid won the competition for the design of a residential building for the next Interbau in Berlin (1994), but the first construction was not he, but the fire department of the Vitra factory in Weil am Rhein (1993) - an exhibit of the architectural collection collected there. Now it is used as an exhibition hall, but not because of "professional inappropriateness", as is often assumed, but because it was replaced by a new municipal fire station [11]. In 1998, Hadid won the competition for the project of the MAXXI museum in Rome (2009) - now her work could be attributed to the direction of parametricism [12]: sharp angles were replaced by fluid forms. Then there were the Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (2003), objects in different parts of continental Europe, numerous projects and less numerous buildings in the Middle and Far East, large exhibitions at the IAC Vienna (2003) and New York Guggenheim (2006). Even in Russia, she has objects: the Capital Hill villa in Barvikha (2011) and an office building under construction on Sharikopodshipnikovskaya street in Moscow. Britain remained the last bastion not taken by Hadid for a long time: her project of an opera house in Cardiff (1994) won first place in the competition, but Welsh politicians did not like it and was eventually rejected - allegedly for technical reasons, although in Wales Hadid was fought as a resident of London, a woman, a foreigner. This was a severe blow for the architect and delayed, as she believes, her success by 5-7 years: only in the 2000s she won the competition for the Aquatics Center for the London Olympics (2012), built a school in London (2010) and a museum transport in Glasgow (2011). After a series of unsuccessful nominations, Zaha Hadid two years in a row, in 2010 and 2011, became a laureate of the Sterling Prize - the main British architectural award, and in 2012 the Queen of England elevated her to the dignity of knighthood. Zaha Hadid Architects currently has 400 employees, and a portfolio of 950 projects in 44 countries. The path to the top is complete.
An important milestone along this path was the award of the 2004 Pritzker Prize to Hadid: she became the first woman on the list of laureates. Well-versed in discrimination Denise Scott-Brown, co-author of most of the projects and theoretical works of Robert Venturi, who won Pritzker alone in 1991, said: “It took them 23 years [13] to find a woman who fits their template of outstanding architecture. " And one cannot but agree with her: Zakha, with all the overcome and unsurmounted gender difficulties, has the same blood with the "stars" - men: she perfectly managed to embody the image of a charismatic creator, before whom young people and customers tremble. Suffice it to take her attitude to her permanent partner and co-author Patrick Schumacher: to the recent question “Isn't it time to include his name in the name of the company?”, She replied that for this he must “devote himself” to work, and in general - the workshop bears only her name since she founded it [14].
Like her colleagues in the first echelon, she agrees to work for totalitarian regimes, but is criticized for this. The photo of Hadid laying flowers on the grave of the first President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev on the day of laying the Center named after him in Baku, designed by her, caused a considerable resonance: the West accuses the Azerbaijani authorities of violating human rights, eliminating political competition and falsifying elections [15]. But the architect claims that she is ready to design public buildings anywhere, because they improve the lives of people in general - regardless of regimes, which, moreover, tend to change; and she would not build a prison in the most democratic state [16].
No less indicative is the story of the recent competition for the draft of the Iraqi Parliament: it was won by the young London architects Assemblage, and the Hadid bureau took third place. However, the customer ignored the jury's decision and began negotiations with the "star", which is already working in Baghdad with the building of the Central Bank and the National Museum. The winners of the competition admit that they are disappointed that Zaha has taken on this project - especially if you remember her own epic in Cardiff [17].
This contradiction is far from the only one in the story of Zaha Hadid, in whose image a man, an architect, an almost glossy person, a symbol of the struggle for gender equality and even a brand merged. She will remain in history as such an amazing conglomerate - at the same time our contemporary and the Babylonian, the heir of a 5000-year-old culture [18]. [1] Waite R., Corvin A. Shock survey results as the AJ launches campaign to raise women architects' status // Architects Journal, 16.01.2012; Booth E. Glass ceiling pay gap revealed // Architects Journal, 06.02.2013 [2] Glancey J. “I don't do nice” // The Guardian, 09.10.2006 [3] Garratt S. Impossible Dreamer // The Telegraph, 16.06.2007 [4] Ibid. [5] Glancey J. “I don't do nice” // The Guardian, 09.10.2006 [6] Thorpe V. Zaha Hadid: Britain must do more to help encourage its women architects // The Observer, 17.02.2013 [7] Rauterberg H. "Ich will die ganze Welt ergreifen" // Die Zeit, 14.06.2006 [8] Bedell G. Space is her place // The Observer, 02.02.2003 [9] McKenzie S. Zaha Hadid: 'Would they still call me a diva if I was a man? ' // CNN, 01.11.2013 https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/01/sport/zaha-hadid-architect-profile-superyacht/ [10] Engeser M. Architektin Zaha Hadid im Interview „Beton ist sexy “// Wirtschafts Woche, 21.01.2007 [11] Hill J. Deconstructivist Architecture, 25 Years Later // world-architects eMagazine, 01.28.2013 https://www.world-architects.com/en/pages/deconstructivist-architecture -25 [12] Schumacher P. Parametricism as Style - Parametricist Manifesto. 2008 https://www.patrikschumacher.com/Texts/Parametricism%20as%20Style.htm [13] Really 25 years old: The Pritzker Prize was first awarded in 1979. [14] Olcayto R. Hadid mulls practice title change // Architects Journal, 19.10.2012 [15] Olcayto R. Zaha in human rights row over Azerbaijan project // Building Design, 25.01.2008 [16] Brooks X. Zaha Hadid: 'I don't make nice little buildings' // The Guardian, 22.09.2013 [17] Fulcher M. Zaha Hadid wins chance to design Iraq parliament building // Architects Journal, 14.11.2013 [18] Rauterberg H. “Ich will die ganze Welt ergreifen "// Die Zeit, 14.06.2006
