Zaha Hadeed

Zaha Mohammad Hadid

Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBE, RA (زها حديد‎‎ ) Zahā Ḥadīd; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect. She was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004.[1] She received the UK's most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Elizabeth II for services to architecture, and in 2015 she became the first woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

She was described by the “The Guardian of London” as the 'Queen of the curve',  who "liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity.  Her major works include the aquatic centre for the London 2012 Olympics, Michigan State University's Broad Art Museum in the US, and the Guangzhou Opera House in China.