Zaha Hadid

British-Iraqi Architect

Zaha Hadid was a British-Iraqi architect, artist and designer, recognized as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her building designs—inspired by modernist movements including Cubism, Futurism, Suprematism, and Constructivism—were characterized by a sense of fragmentation, instability, and movement. Best known of her built works are the Vitra Fire Station (1989–93) in Weil am Rhein, Ger., and the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (1997–2003) in Cincinnati, Ohio. The latter was the first American museum designed by a woman. In 2004 she became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.