This week marks the first anniversary of the death of Zaha Hadid, the most successful and influential female architect in the architectural discipline. Born in Baghdad (Iraq) in 1950, Hadid became the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize in 2004, and twelve years later received the gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Hadid's untimely death left a fascinating and inspiring legacy. Meanwhile her firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, continues to work on nearly a hundred projects worldwide. To remember her legacy, Spanish company Deimos Imaging has shared a series of photographs focusing on Hadid's work in five countries.
The images were captured by the Deimos-2 satellite, which was launched in 2014 and designed for very high-resolution Earth observation applications, providing multispectral images of just 75 centimeters per pixel. Hadid's incredible works take on a new dimension when you contemplate their proportions from the sky—or rather, from a satellite.
Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion
Zaragoza, Spain
The Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion, built to serve as a gateway to the World Expo in 2008, is Zaha Hadid’s first completed bridge design. The 280 meters of fibre-glass reinforced concrete go across the river Ebro, imitating the shape of a gladiola flower.
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Two years later, in 2010, the 842-meter-long Sheikh Zayed Bridge was completed. This bridge, named after the country's principal architect and former president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emulates the rippling of sand dunes and connects Abu Dhabi Island with the mainland.
Galaxy SOHO
Beijing, China
Completed in 2012, the Galaxy SOHO in Beijing is probably one of Zaha Hadid’s most futuristic designs. This swirled, corner-less complex of shops, offices, and restaurants was among the twelve RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) International Award winners in 2013. This prestigious professional body would name Zaha Hadid the first woman recipient of its Royal Gold Medal in 2016.
Heydar Aliyev Center
Baku, Azerbaijan
The Heydar Aliyev Center is a cultural center that hosts a library, a museum and a 1,000-seater hall in Baku. It was built in 2013 and its undulating and fluid shape resembles a cave that smoothly flows from the crust of the earth before falling back below ground.
Dongdaemun Design PlazaSeoul, South Korea
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza is an ultramodern aluminum-plated structure that pops up in the middle of a historical district of Seoul which is famous for its 24-hour cafes and shops. This curved structure—whose name literally means the Great Eastern Gate—is a cultural hub that includes a great variety of public spaces such as Exhibition Halls, a Design Museum and Labs, an Academy Hall, and a Media Center, among many other functions.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza is the first public project in Korea that used 3-Dimensional Building Information Modelling (BIM) to ensure its efficiency, quality, and cost-effectiveness. BIM enabled the designers to have a greater control of details and to visualize the outcomes much better than the traditional 2D drawings.
Thanks to Deimos Imaging and UrtheCast Corp. Project descriptions provided by Deimos Imaging.
