RIP Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid at Yale during 2013, talking of her works.


The World Beyond Ideas

The Hastings Hall was full, so we had to move to the overflow area. I still remember - people queued up for long, and many still didn't manage to get a seat. Her talk was defiant, plain and direct. She kept flipping through her works without delving much into their process. It was all about the "experience" - leaving the audience with the potential of what architecture can achieve, as she says, beyond ideas.

A colleague from Yale once discussed, "I think she is depressed"
I asked, "really?"
She said, "Don't you think so?"

I felt it was an interesting proposition. Zaha was exceptionally different. When she moved around the studios at Yale, even the air around her would be under her command, but as if, she has made private friends with her own environment. From a distance, she seemed warm but guarded. Perhaps, it came from her own history - her being an iraqi woman architect. All these three identities constructed her into a distinct figure.

Anyway, I am glad I was able to see and hear her in person. It is always inspiring to see confident and famous people talk. You know the environment they command and create. And you also know how it makes you feel, and how you would want the world to feel around you.