One with her surroundings

Zaha Hadid was born in Baghdad, Iran in 1950. She studied at the Architectural Association in London where she then received her Diploma in Architecture with Merit in 1977. Zaha opened her own architectural studio in 1979, and has taken first prize in at least four major competitions. She taught at the AA in London. She has then taught at universities all around the world, and is currently teaching at the University of Applied Arts of Vienna and in Yale University, Connecticut.

She has received the Mies Vander Rohe Prize for European Architecture in 2003. Zaha has also received the Pritzker Prize in 2004, and was the first woman to ever receive this award. She is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (in 2000). She has also designed a vast variety of things, such as restaurants, fire stations, a BMW Plant, furniture, appliances, and a model of a car called a "Z-car."

Zaha really seems to work with and around the environment. One example is in her piece "Ice Storm" she asks the owners of the building to ask that the visitors live and use the structure- to explore and to rethink all that you know. Although they ask that you mainly " rethink our ideas of posture, demeanour, and lifestyle." "Ice Storm" is also a latent instead of an manifested environment.

-----"In hope that outdated planning restraints might be abandoned, we presented a proposal that celebrated the dynamic possibilities of the urban landscape by extending the public realm into professional offices, thereby pushing forward the frontier where modern architecture can contribute to the quality of city life."