Zaha Hadid , in full Dame Zaha Hadid, (born Oct. 31, 1950, Baghdad, Iraq—died March 31, 2016, Miami, Fla., U.S.), Iraqi-born British architect. Hadid took a degree in mathematics at the American University of Beirut (1972) and trained at London’s Architectural Association. There she met the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, with whom she worked until she established her own firm in 1979. Her building designs—inspired by modernist movements including Cubism, Futurism, Suprematism, and Constructivism—were characterized by a sense of fragmentation, instability, and movement. Best known of her built works are the Vitra Fire Station (1989–93) in Weil am Rhein, Ger., and the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (1997–2003) in Cincinnati, Ohio. The latter was the first American museum designed by a woman. Her other notable buildings included the MAXXI museum (2009–10) in Rome and the Heydar Aliyev Center (2007–12) in Baku, Azer. In 2004 Hadid became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 2012 she was made a DBE.
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