Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London

About

The inaugural exhibition to be held at the Zaha Hadid Foundation, 'Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London', will run from 8 June - 2 July 2022. Located at the site of the globally renowned architect’s former office in Clerkenwell, the exhibition delves into the collections and archives of the Foundation. Uncovering rare and unseen works, including personal sketchbooks, from over forty years of practice, the exhibition reveals Hadid’s radical reinventions of London.

Hadid was one of the most influential architects of the past century. She was the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the first and only solo woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal for architecture. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Hadid emigrated to London in 1972 to study at the Architectural Association (AA) and lived and worked in the city for the rest of her life. Despite the phenomenal range and scale of building projects that Zaha Hadid Architects has realised across the globe from the 1990s, relatively few projects came to fruition in the city she adopted as home in her lifetime. And yet from her student years, Hadid was profoundly inspired by London’s complex cityscape. This exhibition assembles her visions for the city for the first time.

Hadid’s reinventions of London are expressed through a wide variety of media. Paintings, drawings, collages, and models reveal her distinctive thought process and innovative design methods, shown in projects ranging from utopian imaginings to competition entries and finished buildings. Her designs both slice through and layer on top of London’s dense urban fabric. The new and the old coexist in dynamic equilibrium.

'Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London' is curated by students from the Courtauld Institute of Art’s MA Curating the Art Museum programme. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation and runs as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of live events in conjunction with the London Festival of Architecture. 

Friday Night Late Opening 

10 June, 6–8pm

Studio Late with a chance to view the Courtauld Institute/Zaha Hadid Foundation exhibition Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London after hours. Meet the student-curators for informal talk about how the exhibition was developed.

‘On the Edge’: is the role of women changing in architecture? Panel Discussion 

16 June, 6–8pm

Thandi Loewenson (RCA)

Ann de Graft-Johnson 

Sarah Wigglesworth

Rim Kalsoum

Inspired by Zaha Hadid’s statement that ‘As a woman in architecture you’re always an outsider. It’s OK, I like being on the edge’. The debate, ‘On the Edge’: Is the Role of Women Changing in Architecture?, will explore the ways in which women architects challenge the male-dominated field, and interrogate the existing definition of architecture. The discussion will consider the potential for more inclusive ways of thinking about architecture.

In Conversation with Nigel Coates – 30 June, 7–9pm

In partnership with the Zaha Hadid Foundation (ZHF), the MA Curating the Art Museum cohort of the Courtauld Institute of Art present an evening in conversation with renowned architect Nigel Coates, led by ZHF's head of Research and Learning Jane Pavitt. Nigel Coates is an acclaimed British architect and designer. Emeritus Professor and former Head of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, he was awarded the RIBA Annie Spink Award in 2012 for his outstanding contribution to architectural education. The conversation will centre on the 1970s and 80s architecture scene in London, and his friendship with Zaha Hadid. 

For more information, please contact: courtauldmaexhibition2022@gmail.com