Zaha Hadid

Iraqi-British architect. Born: 31 October 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. Died: 31 March 2016 (heart attack) in Miami, Florida, USA (aged 65). Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBE was the first arab woman who received the Pritzker Architecture Prize (winning in 2004), also receiving the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, while in 2015 she became the first woman to be awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in her own right. Known for liberating architectural geometry, creating highly expressive, sweeping fluid forms of multiple perspective points, fragmented geometry that echo the flux and chaos of modern life, Hadid was a pioneer of parametricism, and an icon of neo-futurism. Her formidable personality brought with it acclaimed and ground-breaking work, including the aquatic centre for the London 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum in the US, and the Guangzhou, China opera house. On 31 March 2016, Hadid died of a heart attack in a Miami hospital, where she was being treated for bronchitis.