Maybe you saw it (probably) but in case you missed it, we brought you the Google doodle that appeared last week to honoured Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid on the 13th anniversary of becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize for her work with broken glass ceilings. Her achievements also included being the first woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
In the doodle, Zaha appears in front of the Heydar Aliyev Center (Baku, Azerbaijan), a cultural center that draws on historical Islamic designs found in calligraphy and geometric patterns, according to Google.
Zaha was born in 1950. She learned about abstract art and architecture at the Architectural Association in London. It was in classroom that she found the inspiration of his work in unconventional ways. In his early works, Hadid said her projects were visualized through paintings that resembled abstract modernist art. He said to explain his quest for new ways:
«There are 360 degrees, so why do they stick to one?»
Hadid was also a forerunner of modern architecture that uses the surrounding landscape to create inspiration. For example, the straight lines and sharp angles of the Vitra Fire Station in Germany were inspired by nearby vineyards, while the roof of the London Aquatic Center is a wave.
Below you have the doodle. Google Earth has also an interactive exhibition featuring some of Zaha Hadid’s most significant works, accessible through this link.
