Zaha Hadid

Taschen Basic Architecture

by Philip Jodidio

Audacious futurism: The forward-thinking work of a singular architect Zaha Hadidis a wildly controversial architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite her designs winning prizes and critical acclaim. Some even said her work was unbuildable. Yet over the past decade she has completed numerous structures including theRosenthal Center for Contemporary Artin Cincinnati (which the New York Times called the most important new building in America since the Cold War ), theMAXXI Museumin Rome, the Guangzhou Opera House, her first completed project in China, and theLondon Aquatics Centerfor the 2012 Olympics.Today, Hadid is firmly established among the elite of world architecture, her audacious and futuristic designs as well as her sense for style and fashion having catapulted her to international fame. About the series: Each book in TASCHEN s Basic Architecture series features: an introduction to the life and work of the architect the major works in chronological order information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts and plans) "

Genres: Architecture, Art, Nonfiction, Collections, Biography, Reference, Design

96 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing architect. Great photos of her work.

[Miroslav Pavelek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great intro about this wonderful architect. Quite a pity it doesn't contain Sky park (Bratislava) and Masaryčka (Prague). Thanks to this book I realized how really unique her style is.

[Mansour S منصور السدحان · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book showcasing “some” of the late Zaha Hadid’s work (there’s other works only shown as thumbnails at the end of the book, unfortunately). Works showcased include items other than just buildings, there’s furniture, shoes, two cars! and more. Early projects also include Hadid’s paintings, with their unique style, worthy of a separate book.
I’m not an architect but here’s my take on her work:
It’s the complete opposite of the Parthenon! Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on the famous Greek building, art comes in unlimited styles. So Zaha’s designs are never settled, always evolving in space, floating and flowing. You wouldn’t “get it” from one glance. Yet there is some hidden uniformity to it. Our eyes sees things in perspective and perspective stretches and distorts shapes in traversing space, Zaha expands and elaborates on that by distorting her plains, making things even more distorted as if they just exploded! If you look at her isometric plains they appear as if they’re viewed from an angle with a perspective but they’re naturally distorted. You might look at a photograph of one of her buildings and assume the photo is taken by a wide angle lens with distortion effect but you would wrong! Her later work tries to echo the natural flow of water. One really needs to survey a building done by her firm, ZHA, from every angle, vertically and horizontally, to understand and feel the design. If Zaha was to write a poem it’ll be one that can be read horizontally, vertically or across, and you get a different perspective that leads you to the same idea!
If you ask Zaha to make up something out of LEGOS, she will arrange the blocks in a selected order dictated by practical necessity, then she will probably heat the blocks until they start melting, then throw them in the air in a helical twisting fashion so as to influence the blocks to embellish a flowing, gravity defying, configuration!
Anyway, enjoyable book but unfortunately doesn’t showcase all her work.



كتاب يعرض "بعضًا" من أعمال الراحلة زها حديد (للأسف، هناك أعمال أخرى معروضة كصور مصغرة فقط في نهاية الكتاب). تشمل الأعمال المعروضة عناصر أخرى غير المباني، فهناك أثاث وأحذية وسيارتان! وغيرها الكثير. تتضمن المشاريع المبكرة أيضًا لوحات زها حديد، بأسلوبها الفريد، والتي تستحق كتابًا منفصلًا.

لستُ مهندسًا معماريًا، ولكن إليكم رأيي في أعمالها:
إنه النقيض التام للبارثينون! الآن لا تفهمني خطأً، فأنا لا أكره المبنى اليوناني الشهير، فالفن يأتي بأنماط غير محدودة. لذا فإن تصميمات زها ليست مستقرة أبدًا، بل تتطور دائمًا في الفضاء، وتطفو وتتدفق. لن "تفهمها" من نظرة واحدة. ومع ذلك، هناك بعض الوحدة المخفية فيها. ترى أعيننا الأشياء في المنظور، والمنظور يمتد ويشوه الأشكال في الفضاء الممتد، وتركز زها ذلك زيادة من خلال تشويه مقاطعها، مما يجعل الأشياء أكثر تشويهًا منظوريا كما لو كانت انفجرت للتو! إذا نظرت إلى مقاطعها متساوية القياس الايزومترية، فستبدو كما لو كانت تُرى من زاوية بمنظور ولكنها مشوهة منظوريا بشكل طبيعي. قد تنظر إلى صورة لأحد مبانيها وتفترض أن الصورة قد تم التقاطها بعدسة واسعة الزاوية ذات تأثير تشويهي ولكنك ستكون مخطئًا! تحاول أعمالها اللاحقة محاكاة التدفق الطبيعي للمياه.

يحتاج المرء حقًا إلى مسح مبنى من تصميم شركتها، زها حديد معماريون، من جميع الزوايا، عموديًا وأفقيًا، لفهم التصميم والشعور به.
لو كتبت زها قصيدة، لكانت قصيدة تُقرأ أفقيًا أو رأسيًا أو عرضيًا، وستحصل على منظور مختلف يقودك إلى الفكرة نفسها!
إذا طلبت من زها صنع شيء ما من مكعبات الليغو، فسترتب المكعبات بترتيب محدد تمليه الضرورة العملية، ثم ستُسخّن المكعبات على الأرجح حتى تبدأ بالذوبان، ثم ترميها في الهواء بشكل ملتوٍ متدفق لتؤثر على المكعبات لتجعلها تأخذ شكل متدفق في الفراغ يتحدى الجاذبية!
على أي حال، كتاب ممتع، لكنه للأسف لا يعرض جميع أعمالها.

[Thikra · Rating 5 out of 5]

piece of art

[Gabrielle Danoux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ma fille aînée (16 ans) voudrait devenir architecte et se passionne donc déjà pour les ouvrages d’introduction dans le domaine, tels que celui-ci. La cadette (12 ans) s’intéresse au féminisme et aux femmes dont le destin est particulier tandis que moi, j’aime accompagner leurs lectures et sortir de ma bulle « roumaine », alors, vous vous imaginez bien que ce livre était pour nous. Les éditions Tachen, s’est, peut-on dire, une valeur sûre et ce livre ne démentit pas le slogan.
Zaha Hadid, née le 31 octobre 1950 à Bagdad (Irak) et décédée le 31 mars 2016 à Miami (États-Unis), est une architecte et urbaniste irako-britannique. Figure importante du courant déconstructiviste, elle est l’une des femmes architectes les plus récompensées par la profession. Elle a notamment reçu le prix Pritzker (considéré comme le « prix Nobel d'architecture ») en 2004.
Le sous-titre du livre est fort bien choisi « faire exploser l’espace pour le remettre en forme ».
En effet, nous avons « fait connaissance » avec le travail de Zaha Hadid, à Weil-am-Rhein, proche de chez nous (20 min sur l’autoroute allemande), car elle est la créatrice du poste d’incendie du site Vitra (cf. pp. 27-29).
Après une ample introduction, les œuvres majeures de Zaha Hadid sont présentées, en ordre chronologique. Les photos sont de grande qualité et mettent judicieusement en valeurs des bâtiments qui ne font pas l’unanimité parmi les spécialistes ou les non-initiés.
Nous on a adoré ce premier livre d’architecture de la future bibliothèque « spécialisée » de ma fille.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The late Dame Zaha Hadid designed some very impressive buildings, but … and there we have the problem. It’s that “but” that’s missing from this straightforward hagiography – probably the price paid for the kind of access journalism that informs Philip Jodidio’s account here, since he quotes extensively from his own interview with his subject (when he isn’t directly parroting her firm’s own press releases). We read a great deal about how slow Britain was to accept this most visible of female architects, but very little about why so many resisted her vision. Surely there are objections that can’t be dismissed as mere conservatism? We also read basically nothing about the systems underwriting her grand designs: Jodidio is as silent about Middle Eastern petro-monarchies as he is about Chinese authoritarianism, never mind the spectacle of Western Capitalism – of which buildings like Hadid’s are but the most egregious symbol. Whatever the oppressive ideology, Dame Zaha made it look good. Here we have modern architecture in its own words, unchallenged and triumphant. It’s the greatest show in town, if you’re into that sort of thing.

[Rashed Jibreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP Zaha, Can’t get over any of her masterpieces and the way they renewed and shaped the 21st-century architecture and how these ambitious complex designs are becoming reality! Wow

[?0?0?0 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific collection of Hadid's work.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical in a word. Her work has proven to be disruptive to the field of architecture by redefining the possibilities of what a building can be.

[Lorenzo Cracchiolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro di buona fattura, che ben si presta a contenere e mostrare le splendide foto dei capolavori di Hadid.

Introduzione un po' carente, mentre sono molto buoni i commenti ai vari edifici.

[Aylin Vanegas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

a revolutionary artist and architectural engineer; i think this book undersells her.

[Amal Al-Hourani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the best!