8/18/2023 0 Comments Formz zaha hadid![]() In due course this formal posturing was both spurred on and rendered realisable by the power of the computer and its various new software packages bringing the capacity to execute more or less any shape, budget permitting. The CCTV building in Beijing by OMA is a prime example of the Postmodern tendency to derive designs from idiotic concepts Instead it all deteriorated into a quest not for lasting relevance but rath er for immediate impact and exciting novelty in dynamically gesturing form − much of it reminiscent of the artwork of record covers or buildings in sci-fi films of the decades before − that was assumed to be expressive of the zeitgeist. Yet from this pluralist smorgasbord nothing appeared that was likely to prove truly satisfying over the long term nor relevant to the increasingly pressing problems we face. This era saw the breakdown of the simple certainties of modern architecture, boredom with the arid abstraction of its forms, the broadening of critical perspectives (starting with post-colonial and feminist critiques, but eventually degenerating into turgid theorising) and the turn to art for inspiration as well as to theory and scenarios. The current emphasis on exaggerated sculptural form − like architecture derived to exemplify a theoretical position, accommodate spurious scenarios or generated aleatorically from sequences of formalist moves (now aka ‘scripts’) − dates back to the 1980s and its elevated acclaim for ‘experimental’ paper architecture. The flaws in all this stuff, Parametricist and Postmodern alike, and its utter irrelevance to the urgent problems of our times, are so obvious future generations will be aghast it was ever taken seriously, let alone mistaken for heralds of the future. Worse is the Postmodern penchant for deriving design from preposterous concepts, resulting in clumsy works like Rem Koolhaas’s CCTV in Beijing and Peter Eisenman’s City of Culture in Santiago de Compostela. But at least some of these have a sort of energy and sculptural seductiveness the admiration of non-architects is understandable. This is especially true in relation to the current fads for icons and Parametricism, such as the works of Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. But to do this will require a more critical perspective from architectural academe and the mediaįuture architects will look back at our times astounded by our confusions, gullibility and inability to exercise critical judgement. It’s been a long, hard road and a travesty that she had to pay the price of discrimination in a profession that should know better.Architecture must move on from pandering to preposterous concepts in an adolescent search for momentary excitement. Her company employs more than 400 people and works on projects globally with a turnover of £44m a year. But she had to fight the establishment at great personal cost. Zaha was single and often worked all-nighters. Alarmingly, many drop out after seven years’ training and a decade in practice, juggling families. Today, 40-odd years later, they make up 24%. When Zaha was at the AA about 6% of the profession were women. There is still enormous prejudice though.” It’s changed – 30 years ago people thought women couldn’t make a building. Zaha told the Architects’ Journal: “There is still a stigma against women. She was the first woman in her own right to be awarded Riba’s royal gold medal, almost 100 years after the suffragette Ruth Lowy forced the AA to accept female students. Her drawings and paintings are like Le Corbusier, Scharoun and El Lissitzky on speed – full of colour and oscillating from earth-shattering shards to dynamic fluid space. From childhood she was experimenting with space and form, fashion and furniture. ![]() She was not only an architect but a designer in every sense of the word. For Muslims, minorities and women, Zaha is a shining torch beaming into the dark minds for whom a few tiles falling off a building seemed a justification to dismiss her work. ![]() Very few people realise the misogynistic, racist and anti-architect environment she had to navigate in Britain. Jealousy and prejudice failed to bar her way, but it took its toll. She did not fit the stereotypical white male profession of registered architects. Zaha was an outsider and upfront about the unfair treatment she experienced as a woman, a foreigner and a designer of expensive, weird-looking buildings – a triple whammy. Her work wasn’t considered good enough and she stormed out of that office determined to “show them”, and show them she did – winning the coveted AA Diploma prize in 1977 the Pritzker prize in 2004 the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling prize in 20, and last year the Riba royal gold medal. Zaha appeared, tears streaming down her face, angry and shaking. I will never forget the day I sat outside the principal’s office hearing raised voices. Z aha Hadid was a few years ahead of me at the Architectural Association (AA).
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