Zaha Hadid: an inspiration and role model for female architects

Editor’s Note: Angela Brady is a director of Brady Mallalieu Architects in London, an award-winning sustainable architects practice based in London for over 25 years. She is past president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Brady is a design champion, a television broadcaster on architecture and design, and promotes women in architecture.

I heard the sad news three minutes after it went up on Twitter. My first reaction was of shock, that our great dame of architecture was cut down at the height of her career, when she had so much more to give us with her stunning architecture and her sharp wit.

We lost someone who was also a great role model for women in architecture.

She said it was “still tough for (her), too, as a woman architect.” But she was tough and she made it to the top in a male-dominated profession designing some of the key icons around the world. She was someone who didn’t like to compromise her ideas. In fact, in a recent Oxford Union interview she was asked, “What do you do when you have to compromise your design for practicality?”

Zaha’s swift answer was, “I don’t like the word compromise to start with. We know we are professionals and we know on every project we have to be smart in the way we interpret our clients’ (wishes). … And as long as you maintain the central idea of the project, and can adjust the work to suit, in some cases it makes the work better – if you have to go around a certain problem.”

This is so true and particularly for Hadid’s organic type of fluid architectural forms. Hadid’s buildings certainly don’t look compromised; they are full of vigor and form and new ideas. Some were certainly difficult to build, as new architectural design ideas need new ways of building.

There was a time when she found it difficult to get commissions in the United Kingdom after she moved there in 1970 at age 22. Her first international building was the award-winning Vitra fire station in Germany, which opened in 1993.

Even in the past decade she has many fine buildings to her practice’s name, not only in the UK – such as the Serpentine Galleries – but all over the world.

One of my favorites is the London Aquatics Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, built for the 2012 Games.

While I was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 2011 to 2013, I managed to film Zaha’s team at the aquatics center when it was in its larger form with “wings” attached. It remains today in its slimmed-down legacy version as an iconic building sitting well in its landscape.

It is a very popular building that continues to make its mark with the public.

I once interviewed Zaha about her work and being a female architect at the top of her profession. It was great to meet her family and close friends at the Damehood party held at the Royal Academy in London in 2012 and see her in a relaxed and friendly mood.

She could be charming, but no one knew when interviewing her how she would react to the questions. There were many surprise responses.

Zaha, who was born in in Baghdad, was a powerhouse and she even dressed in the same way as her flamboyant buildings, with pleated silk gowns and dresses by Elke Walter, highlighted by exotic jewelry.

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Malik Taylor, better known to fans as Phife Dawg of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest, died March 23 at the age of 45. He's seen here at center during a performance in 1996. Taylor had long suffered from health issues associated with having Type 1 diabetes. In 2008, he underwent a kidney transplant.

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Actor Larry Drake, best known for his role as Benny on "L.A. Law," died at his home in Los Angeles on March 17, according to his manager Steven Siebert. Drake was 66.

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Keith Emerson, keyboardist for the influential progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer, died March 10, according to the band's official Facebook page. He was 71.

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Sir George Martin, the music producer whose collaboration with the Beatles helped redraw the boundaries of popular music, died March 8, according to his management company. He was 90. Above, Martin poses with the Beatles after the album "Please Please Me" went silver in 1963.

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Former first lady Nancy Reagan, who joined her husband on a storybook journey from Hollywood to the White House, died of heart failure on March 6. She was known as a fierce protector of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, as well as a spokeswoman of the "just say no" anti-drug campaign. She was 94.

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Pat Conroy, who used his troubled family history as grist for a series of novels, including "The Prince of Tides" and "The Great Santini," died March 4 at age 70.

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Bud Collins, the legendary tennis writer who was the first newspaper scribe to regularly appear on sports broadcasts, died March 4. He was 86. Collins was beloved for his cheerful and enthusiastic coverage of a sport he covered for almost 50 years.

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Lee Reherman, a former football player and star of "American Gladiators," was found dead on March 1. He was 49 years old.

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George Kennedy, the brawny, Oscar-winning actor known for playing cops, soldiers and blue-collar authority figures in such films as "Cool Hand Luke," "Airport" and the "Naked Gun" films, died February 28. He was 91.

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Tony Burton, who played trainer Tony "Duke" Evers in the "Rocky" film franchise, died on February 25. He was 78.

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Singer Sonny James, who ruled the country music charts for nearly 20 years, died February 22 at the age of 87.

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Umberto Eco, author of the novels "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum," died February 19 at the age of 84, his U.S. publisher said.

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Harper Lee, whose novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, was confirmed dead on February 19. She was 89. Her long-anticipated second novel, "Go Set a Watchman," was published in 2015.

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Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was the United Nations' sixth secretary-general in the early 1990s, died on February 16. He was 93.

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George Gaynes, the veteran actor best known for "Punky Brewster" and the "Police Academy" films, died on February 15. He was 98.

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Denise Matthews, who fronted the group Vanity 6 but was best known for her collaboration with Prince, died February 15 at a hospital in Fremont, California. She was 57.

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the leading conservative voice on the high court, died at the age of 79, a government source and a family friend told CNN on February 13.

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Edgar Mitchell was the sixth man to walk on the moon and just one of 12 total who have done so. The Apollo 14 astronaut, who was 85, died on February 4.

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Dave Mirra, whose dazzling aerial flips and tricks made him a legend in freestyle BMX, died February 4 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police in North Carolina said. He was 41.

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Maurice White, the Earth, Wind & Fire leader and singer who co-wrote such hits as "Shining Star," "Sing a Song" and "September," died on February 4, his brother and bandmate Verdine White said. He was 74.

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Joe Alaskey, a voice actor who performed such characters as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, died February 3 at the age of 63. The actor voiced many other beloved Looney Tunes characters, including Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat and Plucky Duck.

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At left is Bob Elliott, half of the TV and radio comedy duo Bob and Ray. He died February 2 at the age of 92. For several decades, Elliott and Ray Goulding's program parodies and deadpan routines were staples of radio and television. Elliott was the father of comedian and actor Chris Elliott and the grandfather of "Saturday Night Live" cast member Abby Elliott.

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Paul Kantner, a guitarist in the '60s psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane and its successor, Jefferson Starship, died on January 28. He was 74.

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Abe Vigoda, the long-surviving "Godfather" and "Barney Miller" actor, died January 26 at age 94. Vigoda became famous for his role as the decrepit detective Phil Fish on the television series "Barney Miller," but it was the inaccurate reporting of his death in 1982 that led to a decades-long joke that he was still alive. He played into the joke in late-night television appearances with Conan O'Brien and David Letterman.

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Glenn Frey, a founding member of the Eagles, died at the age of 67, a publicist for the band confirmed on January 18. "Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia," read a post on the band's official website. Frey had been suffering from intestinal issues.

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Dan Haggerty, who played mountain man Grizzly Adams in a hit movie followed by a TV show, died on January 15. He was 74 and had been battling cancer.

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Alan Rickman, the British actor who played the brooding Professor Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" series years after his film debut as the "Die Hard" villain Hans Gruber, died January 14 after a short battle with cancer, a source familiar with his career said. He was 69.

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Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin died January 11 at the age of 96. Irvin was regarded as one of the best hitters and all-around players in the Negro League, making five All-Star teams. He became one of the first African-Americans to play in the majors, and he played a vital role in the New York Giants' World Series runs in 1951 and 1954.

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David Bowie, whose incomparable sound and chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself made him a pop music fixture for more than four decades, died January 10 after an 18-month battle with cancer. He was 69.

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French fashion designer Andre Courreges, famous for his "space age" designs of the 1960s and 1970s, died on January 7, his family told CNN affiliate France 3. He was 92.

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Pat Harrington, the popular comedian and voice-over talent who made a lasting impact as superintendent Dwayne Schneider on the hit TV sitcom "One Day at a Time," died on January 6. He was 86.

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Producer Robert Stigwood, the creative force behind "Saturday Night Fever," "Grease" and other cultural blockbusters of the 1970s, died on January 4. He was 81.

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Vilmos Zsigmond, the Oscar-winning cinematographer whose varied work included "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Deer Hunter," "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and "Deliverance," died on January 1. He was 85.

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Dale Bumpers, a former U.S. senator and Arkansas governor who defended President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, died on January 1. He was 90.

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Former U.S. Rep. Mike Oxley -- co-author of a landmark anti-corporate-fraud law that bears his name -- died on January 1. He was 71.

As an architect she had a far-reaching design influence from architecture to interiors to furniture. Her jewelry designs for Danish design house Georg Jensen, launched recently at Baselworld, are almost like mini versions of her architectural forms – curvilinear, sensuous and unique.

As a female architect she was a role model to many women and will continue to inspire the rising generations who need to stand up for themselves when under pressure and to work around problems instead of compromising.

Zaha was the Architects’ Journal winner of the Jane Drew prize for women in architecture in 2012. The judges said: “Hadid has broken the glass ceiling more than anyone and is practically a household name. Her achievement is remarkable.”

Zaha was also the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Prize, and won the Stirling Prize in 2010 for the MAXXI museum in Rome and in 2011 for the Evelyn Grace Academy in London in 2011.

I was chairing the judging panel in 2011 and we walked around the Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton. It was a revelation to see how an inner-city school could be transformed into this exciting and dynamic school. The children absolutely loved it and school standards improved. That is the best accolade to educational design – better results – from enjoying the space you are in.

In February, Zaha was interviewed for the famous BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs.” Speaking to presenter Kirsty Young, she said, “I don’t really feel I’m part of the establishment, I’m not the outside, I’m on the kind of edge, I’m dangling there. I quite like it.”

I think this is quite true.

Zaha Hadid’s buildings are a brand on their own, stylish and distinctive.

We are still in great shock from the news of the death of our wonderful dame.

In a recent BBC Arts project, Zaha was asked to write a postcard to her younger self.

She wrote: “Your success will not be determined by your gender or your ethnicity but only by the scope of your dreams.”

What beautiful words and how she liked to dream. She was a true pioneer and a great visionary.