Zaha Hadid: 10 Years On
Ten years after her passing, Zaha Hadid remains a defining presence in contemporary design. Her influence extends beyond individual projects or disciplines, rooted instead in a fundamental rethinking of how space, form, and structure can be conceived.
Long before her buildings materialised, Hadid’s early work operated as a form of investigation. Through paintings, drawings, and competition proposals, she challenged architectural conventions - rejecting static composition in favour of movement, fragmentation, and spatial fluidity. These works were not abstract exercises, but precise propositions: a redefinition of what architecture could become.
“Part of architecture’s job is to make people feel good in space and I feel architecture is a vehicle that can address some of today’s very important issues and give a great sense of optimism and belief in the future.
It is important to build projects that give uplifting experiences that inspire, excite and enthuse. People do ask ‘why are there no straight lines, why no 90 degrees in your work?’ This is because life is not made in a grid.
If you think of a natural landscape, it’s not even and regular – but people go to these places and think it’s very natural, very relaxing.”
As technologies advanced, these ideas transitioned from the conceptual to the built environment. What was once speculative became tangible, without losing its radical clarity. The same principles - continuity, dynamism, and formal precision - would come to define her work across scales.
"It all started with me drawing to represent a project in a non-conventional way... In time these drawings,projections and paintings became a design tool... We do them at the beginning, in the middle, all the way across. So they are more like very elaborate sketches, it is like sketching and testing out different aspects... Sometimes when you are drawing, you think of another design for another project... It is a very strange way of working but for me it is very exciting."
At Zaha Hadid Design, this line of inquiry extends into the realm of objects and material exploration. Furniture, fashion, jewellery, and interiors are approached not as separate disciplines, but as part of a continuous design language. Each piece reflects an ongoing engagement with form, structure, and innovation, informed by the same methodologies that shaped her architectural work.
“My product designs and architecture have always been connected; some of our earliest projects were designs for products and interiors. These design pieces are very important to me and my team. They inspire our creativity by providing an opportunity to express our ideas through different scales and through different media; an essential part of our on-going design investigation”
Rather than a fixed legacy, Hadid’s work represents an evolving framework, one that continues to expand the boundaries of design and challenge established norms.
Ten years on, the ideas remain in motion.
