Zaha Hadid

Zaha’s destiny was already written in her name: the word (hadid) in Arabic means “iron,” just like her strong and determined character.

Zaha Hadid

Illustrations by Carlo Stanga

Zaha Hadid

TextbyEloisaGuarracino

Illustrations

by Carlo Stanga

Zaha Hadid

Text by Eloisa Guarracino

In 2004, Zaha Hadid was the first woman ever to win the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious international award for architecture.

To all the girls and boys who are able to see far into the future

Zaha Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, the cradle of Arab culture, on the banks of the Tigris River. She spent her childhood here immersed in a world where the lines and curves of buildings, mosques and streets appeared to her like letters of an alphabet describing the space.

Zaha’s destiny was already written in her name: the word (hadid) in Arabic means “iron,” just like her strong and determined character.

After studying math in Beirut, she moved to London where she became a brilliant architect.

It was here that Zaha began to draw, never forgetting the places where she grew up.

Her style was unique: influenced by themes that were at the same time geometric and inspired by nature, resulting in innovative shapes and designs outside of existing patterns.

It seemed that she drew looking down at reality from a rocket ship high above. This was how Zaha revolutionized the space around her by sketching disjointed, distorted, overlapping and almost exploding shapes!

Zaha gave life to structures that seemed to leap off the ground and launch themselves into another world.

She also designed objects, furniture, jewelry

that she enjoyed wearing like the queen of space.

and even clothes and shoes

Tables, sofas, door handles, lamps, teaspoons and even…

… a yacht!

Each of her creations teemed with energy.

Over the years,Zaha also designedmanybuildings.

Atjustover 40years old,she designed the Vitra Fire Station in Germany, consisting of sharp concrete edges andpanesofglass that slice through the air.

Observingit at night,Zaha said it looked like the silvery rays of the moon were brushing across its transparent surface.

A few years later, she designed the soaring Bergisel Ski Jump platform in Austria.

Itisparttowerandpart bridge andjumpingfromitisjustlikeflying !

Zaha even created a museum inside the rock of the Dolomites, one of the six sites of the Messner Mountain Museum. Here she imagined guiding visitors through a tunnel inside the Plan de Corones summit along steep stairs to remind them of Alpine streams. Then they emerge at the top of the mountain where three large windows and a terrace frame the view as in a large panoramic picture.

Zaha also designed many spectacular skyscrapers: the Signature Towers in Dubai, which merge together like dancing towers on the beach,

and the Generali Tower in Milan, which in Italian is nicknamed “Lo Storto” (“the Twisted One”) and spirals upward almost in the form of a vortex.

For Zaha, movement wasthecreativeforcethatinsp

For example, the roof of the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Baku rises up and folds in on itself, making the building look like a giant wave,

and the Maritime Ferry Terminal at the Salerno commercial port rises bright and airy from the dock and looks like an oyster welcoming travelers into its shell.

One of Zaha Hadid’s most important projects is the MAXXI in Rome, the first national museum in Italy dedicated to the art and architecture of the 21st century, which she worked on for ten years.

The museum occupies the site of old military barracks, but Zaha did not completely erase the spirit of the place. She restored certain parts of the barracks and also added some incredible new shapes similar to taut ropes ready to shoot arrows.

EverythingintheMAXXIappearstobemoving, justlikelifeoutsideitswalls.Onehasthefeeling ofbeinginsideariver,caughtupinaconstantflow ofbridgesandwalls,orfallingdowncascades ofstairsintoinfinitespaces.

Themuseumisahugebuildingcomprisedofthreestaggeredfloors followinglinesthatdivergeandintersectwithoutinterruption. Concrete,metalandglasscreateafluidspacewhereitiseasytolose yoursenseofdirection.Allthestairsaresuspendedanditfeels likethestepsaretransparent.Itislikewalkingonair, andwhenyoulookdownitmakesyourheadspin!

The transparent structure that covers the building is made of steel and glass in order to permit diffused sunlight to enter the galleries and when seen from above it looks like a giant track for marbles.

Of all the galleries in the museum, number 5 is the most impressive.

The floor rises up like a ramp leading to the sky, taking you to a huge window at the other side of the room. Looking through it gives you the feeling of falling down into the square below.

Who knows which universes the little girl or boy will be able to explore when they gaze from that window stretching up like a telescope…

Incredible futuristic worlds, like the ones that Zaha Hadid always knew how to imagine!

Fondazione MAXXI

Technical Office

Elisabetta Virdia (Head)

Cristina Andreassi

Claudio Tamburrini

Paola Mastracci

I lost my parrot among the pages of this book! Can you help me find it?

President

Giovanna Melandri

Administrative Board

Caterina Cardona

Piero Lissoni

Carlo Tamburi

Monique Veaute

Secretary of the Administrative Board

Laura Gabellone

Board of Advisors

Paolo Palombelli

Claudia Colaiacomo

Flavio Conti

Adviser of Court of Auditors

Andrea Zacchia

Artistic Director

Hou Hanru

Executive Director

Pietro Barrera

Executive Office of the President and General Secretariat

Laura Gabellone (Head)

Flavia Bagni (Assistant to the President)

Federica Cipullo

Cecilia Festa

Chiara Sbocchia

Raffaella Tebano

Angela Cherubini (Legal Service-Lawyer)

Elena Pelosi (Assistant to the Executive Director)

Alessio Rosati (Institutional Projects)

Donatella Saroli (Assistant to the Artistic Director)

Accounts, Administration and Finance Office

Rossana Samaritani (Head)

Francesca Civitenga

Eleonora Magri

Giuseppa Sparla

Public Service Quality

Laura Neto (Head)

Stefania Calandriello

MAXXI ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Architecture

Interim Director

Bartolomeo Pietromarchi

Senior Curator

Pippo Ciorra

Elena Tinacci (Coordination)

Architecture Collections

Simona Antonacci (Photography)

Alessandra Spagnoli (International Projects)

Serena Zuliani (Conservation)

Chiara Castiglia

Architecture Archives Center

Carla Zhara Buda (Head)

Viviana Vignoli Cataloging)

MAXXI ART DEPARTMENT

National Museum of Contemporary Art Director

Bartolomeo Pietromarchi

Giulia Lopalco (Assistant to the Director)

Ilenia D’Ascoli (Heritage and Catalog, Coordination)

Eleonora Farina (International projects)

Simona Brunetti (Conservator and Registrar)

Roberta Magagnini (Conservator and Registrar)

Marta Cesaretti (Conservator and Registrar Assistant)

Maura Favero (Cataloging)

INTERDEPARTMENTAL OFFICES

Monia Trombetta (Head)

Curatorial Office

Monia Trombetta (Curator)

Giulia Ferracci (Curator)

Luigia Lonardelli (Curator)

Elena Motisi (Curator)

Anne Palopoli (Curator)

Donatella Saroli (Research)

Exhibition Design Office

Silvia La Pergola (Senior Architect – Coordination with Technical Office)

Dolores Lettieri (Senior Architect)

Claudia Reale (Senior Architect)

Benedetto Turcano (Architect)

DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH

Flavia De Sanctis Mangelli (Head of Publishing)

Maria Pia Verzillo

Irene De Vico Fallani (Head of Public Program)

Stefano Gobbi

Ludovica Persichetti

Giulia Pedace (Head of MAXXI Art Archives and Documentation)

Giulia Cappelletti

Francesco Longo (Library)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OF TRAINING

Marta Morelli (Head of Education)

Giovanna Cozzi

Stefania Napolitano

Sofia Bilotta (Public Engagement)

Federico Borzelli (Head of Work experience and career exploration programme, MAXXI A[r]t Work project)

Giulia Masini

Elena Pelosi (Head of Training)

Marzia Ortolani

DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

Interim Director

Giovanna Melandri

Lucia Urciuoli (Coordination of the Department)

Press Office, Communication and Web Area

Beatrice Fabbretti (Press Office Head)

Flaminia Persichetti

Prisca Cupellini (Head of Communication and Web)

Giulia Chiapparelli

Eleonora Colizzi

Cecilia Fiorenza

Olivia Salmistrari

Events

Paolo Le Grazie (Head)

Leandro Banchetti

Viola Porfirio

Marketing, Development and Membership

Maria Carolina Profilo (Head)

Andrée Cristini

Cristiana Guillot

Beatrice Iori

Giulia Zappone

Donors FRIENDS OF MAXXI

President

Alessia Antinori

Donors

Platinum

Mariolina Bassetti

Marina Palma

Panfilo Tarantelli

Gold

Alessia Antinori

Enzo Benigni – Founder Donor

Annibale Berlingieri – Founder Donor

Renata Boccanelli

Rodolfo e Laura Bracci

Massimo e Lorenza Caputi

Flaminia Cerasi

Alessandra Cerasi Barillari - Founder Donor

Pilar Crespi Robert – Founder Donor

Anna d’Amelio Carbone – Founder Donor

Roberta d’Amelio Poss di Verbania

Fabrizio e Elisabetta Di Amato

Erminia Di Biase – Founder Donor

Chicca Donnamaria

Yohan Benjamin Fadlun

Annette Gilka

Francesco Maria Giovannini

Pepi Marchetti Franchi

Daniela Memmo d’Amelio

Francesco Micheli

Noemia Osorio d’Amico – Founder Donor

Ugo Ossani e Manuela Morgano Ossani

Mirella Petteni Haggiag

Stefano Russo

Giuseppe e Benedetta Scassellati Sforzolini

Isabella Seràgnoli

Massimo Sterpi – Founder Donor

Silver

Barbara Abbondanza Maccaferri – Founder Donor

Roberta Armani

Cristina Bastianello Ottieri

Lavinia Borea Albertini

Claudia Cornetto Bourlot

Emanuela Da Rin

Iolanda de Blasio

Luigi de Vecchi

Paola De Vincenti

Raffaella Docimo

Sabrina Florio

Marion Franchetti

Galleria Franco Noero

Benedetta Geronzi

Valentina Impallomeni

Eleonora Inguaggiato Musumeci

Sonja Kehl

Dana Lindsey O’Rourke

Roberto Lombardi

Benedetta Lucherini

Paola Lucisano

Patrizia Memmo

Vincenzo Morichini – Founder Donor

Diamara Parodi Delfino

Gianluca Perrella

Salvatore Puglisi Cosentino

Antonella Romiti

Cristina Tessicini

Federica Tittarelli Cerasi – Founder Donor

Ludovica Tosti di Valminuta

Ilaria Uzielli

Hendrik e Giacinta van Riel – International Friend

Young

Giovanna dell’Erba

Andrea Festa

Maria Fabiana Marenghi Vaselli

Matteo Marenghi Vaselli

Honorary Members

Gabriella Buontempo

Grazia Gian Ferrari

Paola Gian Ferrari Braghiroli

Piero Sartogo

American Friends of MAXXI

President

Ginevra Caltagirone

Board of Directors

Enrica Arengi Bentivoglio

Ginevra Caltagirone

Pilar Crespi Robert

Giorgio Gallenzi

Alessandra Rampogna

Giorgio Spanu

Massimo Sterpi

Gold

Francesca Bodini

Nancy Cain Marcus

Beatrice Del Favero

Kathy and Steven Guttman

Lisa Hedley

Andrew Lauren

Julie Minskoff

Claudine Nussdorf

Maribel Reyes

Nina Runsdorf

Carol Saper

Zach Sherman

Brian S. Snyder

Alice and Tommy Tisch

Leah Weiseberg

Young

Peter B. Brandt

We wish to thank all the donors who have chosen to remain anonymous

Founding Members

ZAHA HADID Piccoli MAXXI

Text

Eloisa Guarracino

Illustrations

Carlo Stanga

Head of Publishing

Flavia De Sanctis Mangelli

Editorial Assistant Maria Pia Verzillo

Translated by Jonathan Brys Bibee

Printed in Italy by Esperia srl, Lavis (TN), September 2020

Printed on Fedrigoni Paper

Arena White Smooth

for the text © 2020 Eloisa Guarracino for the illustrations © 2020 Carlo Stanga for the book © 2020 RI RAUM Italic Bücher, Grafik und Design GmbH for the book © 2020 Fondazione MAXXI

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Published by RI RAUM Italic Bücher, Grafik und Design GmbH, Berlin info@raumitalic.com | www.raumitalic.com

Distributed by Corraini Edizioni | www.corraini.com

We would like to thank Mario Barbesta, Paul Beason, Wendy Gallagher, Silvia La Pergola, Nicola Locatelli, Graziano Peruffo, Luca Tomasi and our little readers: Bianca, Cecilia, Livia, Ludovico and Riccardo.

A special thanks to Margherita Guccione, who believed in this project from the very beginning, and to Zaha Hadid Architects.