Existing site for Iraqi parliament complex in Baghdad - Courtesy of Assemblage

It has been confirmed that Zaha Hadid is one of the architects shortlisted for the international competition to design a new, $1 billion Iraqi parliament complex in Baghdad. The full list has yet to be released, but as we have announced earlier, the London-based firm Assemblage has also been shortlisted. Located in the middle of the city, the new complex will be challenged with the remnants of a partially built super mosque planned by Saddam Hussein. Massive 50m reinforced concrete columns tower over the site, as construction was halted by the US-led invasion in 2003. Continue reading after the break for more. read more »

Metropol Parasol © Javier Orive

This article, recently seen on The New York Times, was kindly shared with us by the author Sarah Williams Goldhagen.

A REVOLUTION in cognitive neuroscience is changing the kinds of experiments that scientists conduct, the kinds of questions economists ask and, increasingly, the ways that architects, landscape architects and urban designers shape our built environment.

This revolution reveals that thought is less transparent to the thinker than it appears and that the mind is less rational than we believe and more associative than we know. Many of the associations we make emerge from the fact that we live inside bodies, in a concrete world, and we tend to think in metaphors grounded in that embodiment. read more »

Via The All Nighter

We found this great image from The All Nighter – a tumblr dedicated to students who want to share and prospective students who would like to know about the architecture studio experience. The ArchDaily team would like to wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Zaha Hadid discusses the challenges she has faced throughout her life and career. She talks about the criticism that comes along with being an Arabic woman architect with “unconventional” designs and the unconditional support from her family. Hadid describes architecture as an exciting but painfully demanding field, stating, “All the arts are not respected enough.”

Paris Fashion week launched the 2012 Chanel runway, designed by Zaha Hadid. Karl Lagerfeld enlisted the architect to enhance the nautical concept and transform the Grand Palais for the Spring/Summer women’s collection. An ocean of models strutted through a purified landscape of white occupied by oversized sea creatures and coral. The dramatic scene was enhanced by iridescent drapes enclosing the performance. Zaha Hadid and Karl Lagerfeld have teamed up before. In 2008, Hadid designed a dynamic mobile art pavilion for Chanel, inspired by Chanel’s signature quilted bag.

More images after the break.

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Soumaya Museum by LAR © Gehry Technologies

Update: The AIA has expressed their support for Gehry Technologies’ strategic alliance (reported last night on ArchDaily).  “We applaud this enterprise by Gehry Technologies and the Board who are comprised of many AIA members because it is estimated that as much as 30% to as much as 50% of all time, money, materials and resources that go into a construction project do not add value to the final product,” said AIA President, Clark Manus, FAIA. “The AIA has long been advocating for tools such as Business Information Modeling and methodologies like Integrated Project Delivery that can help reduce the inefficiencies in construction projects. We are anxious to see the progress though this effort that will be beneficial for both the industry and clients.”

Today Frank Gehry, co-founder and chairman of Gehry Technologies (GT), announced plans to further his vision to ‘transform the building industry and the practice of design’.  In an effort to redirect the profession back to solving both clients’ and communities’ problems Gehry has gathered together some of the world’s most prominent designers: David Childs, Massimo Colomban, Zaha Hadid, Greg Lynn, Laurie Olin, Wolf D. Prix, David Rockwell, Moshe Safdie, Matthias Schuler, Patrik Schumacher, Ben van Berkel, and Richard Saul Wurman to serve on Gehry Technologies’ board of advisors.

“I am dedicated to giving architects better control of the process so they can deliver the fruits of their imagination, which is what our clients expect. I have gathered a group of my friends together who believe in this mission as much as I do and who can help me find the solutions that will ultimately lead to better buildings throughout the world,” stated Gehry.

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© Luke Hayes

For the second year in a row, Zaha Hadid was announced as the winner of the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize.  Often labeled as the UK’s most important architecture award, Hadid will be awarded £20,000 for her design of the Evelyn Grace Academy in London.  Recognizing the ‘architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year’, to be considered the project must be built in Britain or the architects head office must be in the UK.

Zaha Hadid’s Evelyn Grace Academy was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize along with O’Donnell and Tuomey’s An Gaelaras, David Chipperfield Architects’s Folkwang Museum , AHMM’s Angel Building, Bennetts Associates’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and the Velodrome by Hopkins Architects.  Last year Hadid was awarded the prize for her design of the MAXXI Museum of Modern Art in Rome.

This year’s award was a bit controversial; former president of the RIBA, George Ferguson’s reaction, ‘This is an appalling result and the worst decision since the Magna Centre beat Girmshaw’s Eden Project to win the Stirling Prize in 2001. It’s a great big own goal. It is also the worst possible message to send to [education secretary] Michael Gove. In fact it reinforces his case. A good school is one that can be replicated. But this can’t. It’s a one-off. The prize [has become] an award from architects for architects. It makes me angry.’

More reactions regarding the 2011 Stirling Prize can be found at the Architects Journal.

Z-Car I, 2006. Zaha Hadid (Iraqi, b. 1950). Lightweight carbon fiber composite: EPS PU, PU-coating, car paint. 65 3/4 x 72 13/16 x 148 in. Black/white. Made by GTM Cars, Kingswinford, England. Photography courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects: Project Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with Kenny Shachter/ ROVE Gallery London.

Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion now exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through March 25th, highlights the architects product design within a unique atmosphere.  Creating for the first time in the states her own setting for an exhibit,  the first female Pritzker Prize winning architect developed an ‘undulating structure of finished polystyrene with vinyl graphics’ to display furniture, footwear, and her Z-Car I.

“Hadid envisions the gallery as an active element in the display of her own designs, and will create an immersive three-dimensional environment,” said Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger, Curator of European Decorative Arts after 1700. “She is interested in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology, and explores the intersection of these elements with a spatial composition that ebbs and flows in wave-like movements, manipulating the viewer’s understanding of space with constantly shifting perspectives.”

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Zaha Hadid's Riverside Museum

Architect Zaha Hadid has been chosen by the City of Miami Beach to design its newest parking garage at Collins Park, a neighborhood that’s home to the Miami City Ballet, the Bass Museum, the City Library as well as the Gansevoort, W and Setai luxury hotels. Collins Park is also just blocks away from the Miami Beach Convention Center, the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center and the popular automobile-free Lincoln Road Mall. Complete press release after the break. read more »

Justice Stephen Breyer - Photo by Steve Petteway, Photographer, Supreme Court of the United States / Zaha Hadid - Photo by Simone Cecchetti

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, as well as widely acclaimed Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Zaha Hadid of the United Kingdom, will join the jury that selects Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize.

In addition to his distinguished career in the law, Justice Breyer has a long history of interest in art and architecture, having authored the foreword to a book titled, “Celebrating The Courthouse: A Guide For Architects, Their Clients, And The Public” in 2006. Further, in 2009, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies honored him with the first Leonore and Walter H. Annenberg Award for Diplomacy through the Arts at a ceremony where the chairman of the foundation, Jo Carole Lauder, said, “His passion for ensuring that federal buildings — where our country’s democratic principles are upheld — represent modern day thinking and culture is truly admirable. Since the birth of our nation, America’s ever changing democracy has been captured through art and architecture and, thanks to Justice Breyer, this legacy will continue.”

Hadid, who received the Pritzker Prize in 2004, has since become one of the world’s busiest architects with projects in numerous countries, including the United States, China, Germany, Spain and Italy. The distinguished architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who at the time was a Pritzker juror, said: “Zaha Hadid is one of the most gifted practitioners of the art of architecture today.”

More after the break. read more »

Photo by low.lighting - http://www.flickr.com/photos/low-lighting/

The emergence of China on the global economic stage has been discussed at nauseum in myriad publications. But this emergence has had an impact on the world of architecture, providing a testing ground where architects can experiment with new ideas about sustainability and urban growth. These new ideas have been realized in recently completed structures, and more are just beginning construction or have been proposed for the future. More on these new buildings after the break.

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This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Rome. As the city that gave us the arch, the dome, and the vault, its influence on architecture is undeniable. We put together a list of 12 modern/contemporary buildings that we feel provides a good starting point. It is far from complete. There are dozens of other great buildings that are not our list, and we are looking to add to the list in the near future. Please add your favorites in the comment section below so we can add them on the second go around. Again thank you to all our readers who sent in their suggestions and photographs. The city guides would not be possible without your help.

To check out other cities visit our world map or our Architecture City Guide page.

The Architecture City Guide: Rome list and corresponding map after the break.

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This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Madrid. As the third largest city in the European Union, Madrid is the economic and political capital of Spain. The streets and neighborhoods for the most part remains historic, but the city is punctuated with moments of engaging and interesting contemporary architecture. For those who have followed our city guides, you will have noticed that this is our second stop in Spain. That said, Madrid is distinctly different from Barcelona. The differences between the two are manifested in their architecture, both old and new. Our lists only cover relatively recent projects, but a quick glance at the two will give you a sense of the differing cultures and lifestyles (Barcelona’s City Guide). Both lists are far from complete and we are looking to add to them in the near future. In the meantime add more of your favorites to the comment section below.

To check out other cities visit our world map or our Architecture City Guide  page.

The Architecture City Guide: Madrid list and corresponding map after the break.

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This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Copenhagen. This is our first stop in Europe, and admittedly the selection was not completely unbiased. While studying at the Danish Building Research Institute a few years ago I couldn’t help but fall in love with Copenhagen’s architecture. The Danish attention to detail is absolutely stunning. Besides the wonderful historic architecture, Copenhagen is filled with contemporary architecture of the highest quality. Remarkably, you rarely find the new clashing with the old. More often than not, the contemporary architecture in Copenhagen actually heightens the experience of the historic buildings and streets. Last week our readers suggested so many great buildings I decided to double the usual number of buildings to 24. This still did not come close to including all the suggestions or even some of my favorites, so we will be looking to expand on this list in the near future. Once again thanks to all our readers for your help. As the list is incomplete please add your favorites in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Copenhagen list and corresponding map after the break.

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Z-Chair Chair / Zaha Hadid

Revealed earlier this month in Milan, Sawaya & Moroni‘s New Collection 2011 includes pieces from high profile architects Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, and Dominique Perrault. William Sawaya and Paolo Moroni, founding partners of Sawaya & Moroni, focus the production of their furniture on contemporary designs intertwined with differing cultural backgrounds, resulting in unique pieces and a selective group of architects and artists.

Ben van Berkel of UNStudio also presented new furniture this month in Milan.

More about the chairs after the break.

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Zaha Hadid joined by Patrik Schumacher, Stefano Boeri, Mario Piazza, and Mark and Giovanna Sammicheli Silva spoke to a packed house of students in Milan yesterday.  The conversation, held at the Politecnico, lasted over two hours. This coming August Abitare will be releasing a special issue Being Zaha Hadid.