A photoblog of Zaha Hadid’s first solo show in Scandinavia
26/07/2013
Zaha Hadid – World Architecture
DAC, Copenhagen
Until September 29, 2013
Baghdad-born British architect Zaha Hadid (1950) is one of the brightest stars in the galaxy known as contemporary architecture, and the press never tires of writing about her on a practically weekly basis. She is the first woman to have received the Pritzker Prize (2004), known as the Nobel Prize of architecture, and was awarded the Stirling Prize two years in a row (2010, 2011). Hadid is the only woman who securely sits on the otherwise male-dominated summit of world architecture.
Zaha Hadid's buildings, with their signature streamlining and courageously extravagant shapes, have become modern-day icons. “I'm eccentric, I admit, but I'm not crazy,” Hadid has said, devoting all of her time to her trade and keeping perfection in high regard; she avoids, however, designing “nice” buildings, giving preference to “vitality, the wild, and the savage strength of nature”. The London Aquatics Center (2012), the MAXXI museum of contemporary art in Rome (2010), BMW's Central Building in Leipzig (2005) and the Ordrupgaard Museum Extension in the north of Copenhagen (2005), her only building in Scandinavia, are just a few of the most shining examples of her 30-year-long career.
Several times Hadid has also given way to a flirtation with design and fashion, and this summer she presented her third series of “luxury shoes” (called “skyscraper shoes” by the press), this time in cooperation with the label United Nude. For Milan's Fashion Week in September, Hadid has created for the boutique shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, whose trademark is using unfathomable materials for his shoes, such as cork, wallpaper and 24-carat gold.
A comprehensive exhibition put together by the Offices of Zaha Hadid is on view at Copenhagen's Danish Centre of Architecture, through 29 September. This is the architect's first solo show in Scandinavia. The creators of the exhibition have taken care to present an experience in which architecture, design and installations have “grown together” into a thicket quite uncharacteristic of exhibitions.
We provide you with a look into the exhibition, all the while keeping in mind the following question – Has the world's leading female architect decided to strengthen her ties to the Nordic region?
The exhibition also contains the interactive installation Parametric Space, which changes its shape according to the movements of the people in the room.
