Writing in

Architecture-331

•Zaha Hadid (II)

Zaha Projects
1. Vitra Fire Station, Weil-am-Rhein,
Germany

• Vitra Fire Station was created after a

major fire occurred on the Vitra Campus
in 1981.
• The building contains space for fire
engines, showers and changing rooms as
well as a conference room and
kitchenette.
• The building was cast in concrete on site.
• The non painted facades and right angles
form provide a strong spatial project
• Vitra’s fire team had stopped little time
after being created after realizing that
the company fire team would only be
able to combat a fire in its initial stages
and not replace the public fire services.
• The building remains in use instead for
exhibitions and conferences.
2. Bergisel Ski Jump, Innsbruck, Austria

2. Bergisel Ski jump in

Innsbruck, Austria
•The Bergisel ski jump
contains a ski ramp and
sports facilities, as well as a
tower-top cafe with viewing
terrace.
•The project Started in 1999
and completed in 2002
•The structure is distinctive
in its parts:- tower, bridge
form, and the way it
simulates the topography of
the slopes.
•It has 50m tall and 90m
long, which gives the ski
jump its natural impact and
turns it into a place that
worth to visit.
[Link] Science Center, Wolfsburg, Germany
• The project has been described as an “architectural adventure playground”.
• It visualizes Hadid’s philosophy of creating “complex, dynamic and fluid spaces”.
• the project was Built on concrete cones that allow visitors to pass through
underneath the building without interrupting the building function
• The building contains artificial hills and valleys, a floor hole and channels that bring
natural light to spaces.
4. Bridge Pavilion,
Zaragoza, Spain
• The Bridge Pavilion was
created as part of the
2008 Expo in Zaragoza.
• The bridge stretches
across the river Ebro and
has 280-meter long.
• It is made from fiber-
glass reinforced
concrete,
• the outer skin of the
structure was covered
with 29,000 fiber glass
triangles in different
shades of gray.
• Inspired by gladioli, that
was divided into half
pedestrian walkway, half
exhibition area, inside
the enclosed structure
of the bridge
5. Guangzhou Opera House, China

• Guangzhou Opera was opened

in 2010,
• the design was inspired by the
image of “pebbles in a stream,
smoothed by erosion”.
• the auditorium is totally
freestanding form.
• the project uses concrete
cladded by exposed granite and
steel frame covered by glass,
• the folded shape of the outer
shell in addition to the glass
structure match the near
riverside and let light flood in .
• unfortunately, after a year, the
idea of erosion came to exist,
and the cladding panels already
started to fall.
6. Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland

• Glasgow’s Riverside Museum is

currently home to the city’s Transport
Museum.
• the museum location is considered a
good choice within the old shipyard
site.
• It was Built between 2004-2011,
• the building was described as “a shed
in the form of a tunnel, open at the
extreme ends, one end toward the
city and the other toward the Clyde
river”.
• It has 10,000-square meter.
• Like many of her designs, the full
impact can only be perceived when
viewed from above.
• The roof is a series of folded shapes
which reaches to the building’s facade
and fully covered in zinc plates.
7. London Aquatics Center,
London, United Kingdom

• The aquatics center inspired

by the fluid geometry of water
in motion.
• It was completed in 2012 as
part of the Olympic Park.
• The building contains two 50-
meter swimming pools with
floors that can be moved to
change the depth and a 25-
meter diving pool.
• the design of the roof
simulates the wave shape that
reflect the purpose of the
building.
• the project has a giant open
side windows that allow light
to flood inside the space.
8. Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku,
Azerbaijan
• Heydar Aliyev Center was built
between 2007 and 2012.
• the center is named Heydar
Aliyev, the first secretary of
Soviet Azerbaijan from 1969 to
1982 and president of Azerbaijan
Republic from 1993 to 2003.
• The design of the building aimed
to break the rigid Soviet
architecture in Baku and
expressed the optimism of the
nation that looks to the future.
• The project looks like a white
sheets of softly curved paper and
seeks to create a fluid
relationship between the
surrounding plaza and its interior.
9. Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China

• The project completed in 2012.

• Galaxy Soho contains office, retail
and entertainment complex
• Soho form has no corners and looks
like a future design.
• the project consists of four domed
structures linked by several bridges
and platforms where the result was
an “internal world of continuous
open spaces”.
• The building’s design is considered a
reinvention of classical Chinese
courtyards.
• At the beginning the project was
criticized by local heritage groups
specially when it built within a
historic area.
10. Port Authority, Antwerp, Belgium

• This building in Antwerp was Hadid’s

only government building.
• The Port House gather 500 employee
who previously worked in separate
buildings around the city.
• The form of this project looks like a
ship set on a concrete landing place.
• the new building is placed on top of a
1922 old fire station building.
• the project outer skin is totally from
glass and steel structure.
• The glass form act as a Jewel on the
top of the old building indicating the
major market of diamonds in Europe.
• The project was completed in 2016,
only months after Zaha’s death.
• To honor the life and work of Hadid,
the square in front of the building was
renamed Zaha Hadid plein (Zaha
Hadid square)
Zaha Hadid In Brief
• First of all, Zaha Hadid was internationally regarded as “the greatest
female architect in contemporary architecture”.
• As many prizes' holder, she was described by an architect who
demonstrate vision, talent and consistent contributions to the
environment.
• Regarding her imaginary designs, it took years to turn her drawings
into physical forms
• Starting her architectural career in the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1994 that
Hadid’s drawings were realized in physical form
• Her fluid design make her known by many as the “queen of the curve”,
• In addition, she never compromising on her ideas.
• Generally, Zaha did not follow definite school of architect, but her style
of architecture can relate to some movements such as
Deconstructivism, Parametricism and Abstraction.
• She plays with the geometry of buildings and said about her projects:
“The idea is not to have any 90-degree angles”.
• Her projects add Legacy, wonder, admiration, complication, trick … etc.
 references
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century/
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healing-and-reconciliation-in-cambodia-by-zaha-hadid/
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enduring-landmark-in-azerbaijan/
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grass-truly-greener-higher-side/#
• [Link]
[Link]
• [Link]
that-define-zaha-hadids-style/
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hadid/
• [Link]
new-projects/
• [Link]
• [Link]