Zaha Hadid: Who Dares Wins

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0:00:30 > 0:00:34The Russian artist Kazimir Malevich once said,

0:00:34 > 0:00:38"We can only perceive space when we break free from the Earth.

0:00:38 > 0:00:41"When the point of support disappears."

0:00:45 > 0:00:50The Bergisel Ski Jump towers 250 metres above Innsbruck,

0:00:50 > 0:00:53an instrument for high-performance sport,

0:00:53 > 0:00:55shaped with mathematical precision.

0:00:55 > 0:00:58Its creator is Zaha Hadid -

0:00:58 > 0:01:01an architect whose buildings defy classification

0:01:01 > 0:01:03and even gravity.

0:01:03 > 0:01:09Zaha Hadid flies in the face of convention and far into the future.

0:01:09 > 0:01:12Without that element of uncertainty, she says,

0:01:12 > 0:01:16that sensation of travelling into the unknown,

0:01:16 > 0:01:18there would be no progress.

0:01:57 > 0:02:01In the last 30 years, Zaha Hadid has gone from

0:02:01 > 0:02:03paper architect to global megastar.

0:02:13 > 0:02:17Her extraordinary architecture doesn't just stand.

0:02:17 > 0:02:20It melts, it slides,

0:02:20 > 0:02:24it whooshes, it juts, it moves.

0:02:32 > 0:02:36Her buildings make us feel like we're in another place,

0:02:36 > 0:02:38another world even.

0:02:38 > 0:02:40A Zaha-shaped world.

0:02:43 > 0:02:48Zaha Hadid has won all the top architecture awards.

0:02:48 > 0:02:53The Pritzker Prize for Architecture and the Stirling Prize, twice.

0:02:56 > 0:02:59This year, she's even been named businesswoman of the year

0:02:59 > 0:03:02by Veuve Cliquot.

0:03:02 > 0:03:08Born in Iraq in 1950, Zaha Hadid is now a Dame of the British Empire.

0:03:09 > 0:03:12'Zaha's story is absolutely fabulous.'

0:03:12 > 0:03:17She is the greatest woman architect, not in the world now,

0:03:17 > 0:03:22probably that ever lived, and she's right here in London.

0:03:22 > 0:03:24You can touch her. Well, almost.

0:03:25 > 0:03:29'She does demand attention and she gets it.'

0:03:29 > 0:03:34She goes to the States and she has dinner with Obama.

0:03:34 > 0:03:36She is a superstar.

0:03:37 > 0:03:40'She's a fantastic gossip.'

0:03:40 > 0:03:43She loves to hear about people. She's a great mimic.

0:03:43 > 0:03:46She's a person that you wouldn't want to leave the room at dinner with

0:03:46 > 0:03:48for the fear you'll find yourself the subject of conversation.

0:03:48 > 0:03:53She is the nearest thing in architecture to the roundtable at the Algonquin.

0:03:55 > 0:03:58'She relishes form so form for her,

0:03:58 > 0:04:03'whether it is some form that she draws or form that she wears,'

0:04:03 > 0:04:04or form that she lives with,

0:04:04 > 0:04:08it's about an all encompassing vision.

0:04:08 > 0:04:10She is a complete work of art.

0:04:11 > 0:04:17'Zaha is, if you know her and if you understand her,'

0:04:17 > 0:04:19a very inspiring person.

0:04:19 > 0:04:23But you have to have patience.

0:04:23 > 0:04:25You have to give her room.

0:04:26 > 0:04:30If you try to constrain her then she will explode.

0:04:31 > 0:04:36The winner is a great architect who happens to be a woman, Zaha Hadid!

0:04:36 > 0:04:38APPLAUSE

0:04:48 > 0:04:49I thank you very much.

0:04:49 > 0:04:55My old accountant used to always tell the tax people that

0:04:55 > 0:05:01I was a ditzy princess from the Arab world,

0:05:01 > 0:05:06not knowing that I came from a family who did not believe in the monarchy,

0:05:06 > 0:05:08but anyway...

0:05:08 > 0:05:11Architecture is no longer a man's world.

0:05:11 > 0:05:17This idea that women can't think three-dimensionally is ridiculous.

0:05:17 > 0:05:18LAUGHTER

0:05:18 > 0:05:23And also, I have great people,

0:05:23 > 0:05:25I have a great partner Patrik Schumacher,

0:05:25 > 0:05:28I have great associates with me in the office,

0:05:28 > 0:05:31who are a mixture of men and women,

0:05:31 > 0:05:35and they've all really contributed to this work.

0:05:37 > 0:05:40- Old school building. - So that was the school building?

0:05:40 > 0:05:42This is an old school

0:05:42 > 0:05:46but when we arrived, it was converted into studios.

0:05:46 > 0:05:50Here is still the girls' entrance. The other side is the boys' entrance.

0:05:50 > 0:05:54- You don't apply that rule today. - Not any more!

0:05:54 > 0:05:58We have now one studio and now we have the whole complex.

0:06:00 > 0:06:03It's an almost improbable success story.

0:06:03 > 0:06:05It took years for her career to take off.

0:06:07 > 0:06:11The practice started life in just one room with four people,

0:06:11 > 0:06:14and now employs almost 400.

0:06:15 > 0:06:19It's a global brand with buildings all over the world.

0:06:24 > 0:06:27And we broke through here. This is kind of reception.

0:06:27 > 0:06:31- You want to see the main meeting room?- Yeah.

0:06:32 > 0:06:34But where, I wonder, is Zaha?

0:06:34 > 0:06:37What kind of technology?

0:06:37 > 0:06:40Most of them are printed. Now we have our own 3D printer.

0:06:40 > 0:06:43- Does Zaha come to these meetings?- Yes, yes, yes.

0:06:43 > 0:06:47When she comes, she's sitting here and holding court if you like.

0:06:48 > 0:06:52Ah. Today it seems, she's holding court at home.

0:06:52 > 0:06:56So what we want to know is the nickname. What do you call Patrik?

0:06:56 > 0:06:58- Potato.- Potato.

0:06:58 > 0:07:00He has many names, Patrik.

0:07:00 > 0:07:04Potato, Fluffy, Cappuccino. Sinkapoo.

0:07:06 > 0:07:07Would you mind interpreting?

0:07:07 > 0:07:11Choo Choo. No, because Patrik does not respond to anything.

0:07:11 > 0:07:13So we say, "Patrik? Patrik?"

0:07:13 > 0:07:18And then ten times later, you have to have a name.

0:07:18 > 0:07:22We say "Choo Choo" and he says "yes?"

0:07:22 > 0:07:26But Potato happened a long time ago because he's German.

0:07:26 > 0:07:33And Cappuccino, because he is fluffy. Like we say "where is Fluffy?".

0:07:34 > 0:07:40We spend our day every day looking for Patrik for at least four hours.

0:07:40 > 0:07:42Because he's off somewhere.

0:07:42 > 0:07:45Because he's never at his desk or he's somewhere there.

0:07:47 > 0:07:48We're all looking for Patrik.

0:07:52 > 0:07:55It looks like a showroom, but it isn't.

0:07:55 > 0:07:57It's home.

0:07:57 > 0:08:01Many of these things Zaha designed herself.

0:08:01 > 0:08:05She's loved playing with shapes, moulding her own world,

0:08:05 > 0:08:07ever since she was a child in Iraq.

0:08:07 > 0:08:11It was here, growing up in Baghdad in the 1950s,

0:08:11 > 0:08:16that Zaha Hadid's vision of the world began to take shape.

0:08:28 > 0:08:31It was a beguiling marriage of the old and the new,

0:08:31 > 0:08:33of tradition and modernity.

0:08:39 > 0:08:45Zaha, I'm looking at a picture of a little girl in a garden in Baghdad.

0:08:46 > 0:08:49It's full of mystery, really.

0:08:49 > 0:08:51Do you recognise her?

0:08:51 > 0:08:54Yeah. I remember that picture.

0:08:56 > 0:08:58What are you thinking, I wonder?

0:08:58 > 0:08:59I don't know.

0:08:59 > 0:09:04- I was preoccupied with something. I don't know what it was.- You were.

0:09:04 > 0:09:06I was a very curious child.

0:09:06 > 0:09:08Do you mean you were curious about the world?

0:09:08 > 0:09:12About everything, yeah. I used to walk around all day.

0:09:12 > 0:09:16I was almost like an only kid because my two brothers were already abroad,

0:09:16 > 0:09:20so I used to run around all day asking questions.

0:09:20 > 0:09:24And so by the end of the day, my mum had had enough,

0:09:24 > 0:09:28so when my father appeared back, he was very patient.

0:09:28 > 0:09:32He answered any questions I wanted to know.

0:09:35 > 0:09:37Zaha's father, Mohammed Hadid,

0:09:37 > 0:09:41was the leader of the Iraqi National Democratic Party.

0:09:41 > 0:09:45He'd been educated in England. It was a cosmopolitan household.

0:09:49 > 0:09:54It's so extraordinary, this childhood of yours in Baghdad,

0:09:54 > 0:09:58because the way you describe it, it's such a civilised place.

0:09:58 > 0:10:01It was an amazing place, really.

0:10:01 > 0:10:04Great people, very open society.

0:10:04 > 0:10:06Fun.

0:10:06 > 0:10:10You travelled a lot. Here's another picture, a lovely picture.

0:10:10 > 0:10:12- Of me in Rome.- In Rome.

0:10:12 > 0:10:17And then I've also got this picture of you and your parents in Rome.

0:10:17 > 0:10:18Same trip.

0:10:18 > 0:10:21You look like a child who was loved.

0:10:21 > 0:10:24I had a fabulous childhood.

0:10:24 > 0:10:28I went to an amazing school. A nuns' school.

0:10:28 > 0:10:31It was an interesting time.

0:10:31 > 0:10:34Also, you were a Muslim girl in a convent...

0:10:34 > 0:10:37The same with the Jewish girls.

0:10:37 > 0:10:42We were obliged to go to chapel and pray and then I used to go home

0:10:42 > 0:10:47and was wondering why my parents are not praying,

0:10:47 > 0:10:51and they finally told me that, we're not really Christians,

0:10:51 > 0:10:56and so I thought at the time, so why do I have to do that?

0:10:56 > 0:11:01So we were allowed not to go to chapel...

0:11:01 > 0:11:02for prayers.

0:11:02 > 0:11:05We were brought up in that moment where there was

0:11:05 > 0:11:09an interest in education, also an interest in architecture,

0:11:09 > 0:11:12and so I think it was an interesting time.

0:11:15 > 0:11:20Architecture was seen as a means by which Baghdad could build a new identity.

0:11:25 > 0:11:29The city looked at the A-list of modern architects.

0:11:29 > 0:11:32Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto,

0:11:32 > 0:11:36and Le Corbusier were all invited to design plans.

0:11:37 > 0:11:41Walter Gropius' university building still stands as testament

0:11:41 > 0:11:45to Baghdad's belief in modernist ideas.

0:11:46 > 0:11:51'I think Zaha was given the sense that she could achieve whatever she wanted.'

0:11:51 > 0:11:55It was a place in which modernity was just arriving.

0:11:55 > 0:11:59Baghdad when she was a child was watching the Le Corbusier buildings going up,

0:11:59 > 0:12:01there was a Gropius building,

0:12:01 > 0:12:05the regime before the dictatorship was open to Western ideas

0:12:05 > 0:12:08and believed that women had a place in that,

0:12:08 > 0:12:11and that was something that was deep in her mind,

0:12:11 > 0:12:14and she eventually picked it up and ran with it.

0:12:15 > 0:12:18Looking at the interior of your parents' house,

0:12:18 > 0:12:21this very beautiful picture.

0:12:21 > 0:12:23The idea is very nice.

0:12:23 > 0:12:28And those wonderful tiled floors, simple but beautiful cane furniture.

0:12:28 > 0:12:33This chair, these seats actually were not cane.

0:12:33 > 0:12:35They were made of steel.

0:12:35 > 0:12:39- Wow.- They were woven steel and painted gold.

0:12:39 > 0:12:43This is the summer. You don't see a cover on the floor.

0:12:43 > 0:12:46In the winter there would be a rug, a big rug.

0:12:46 > 0:12:49It's interesting though because you're eight or nine years old

0:12:49 > 0:12:52and you already know the layout of the furniture in the room.

0:12:52 > 0:12:57I remember this very, very well. I wanted things to be done my way.

0:12:57 > 0:13:00I wanted an adult's room. I didn't want...

0:13:00 > 0:13:05a children's room, so I had designed this room, which my parents

0:13:05 > 0:13:10made for me, and actually it was a very popular room,

0:13:10 > 0:13:12so my cousin had one, my aunt had one,

0:13:12 > 0:13:15so the whole family had one of these rooms.

0:13:15 > 0:13:17- You designed the whole suite?- Yeah.

0:13:17 > 0:13:20Isn't that a bit unusual?

0:13:20 > 0:13:26I think maybe by 11 years old, I was already wanting to become an architect.

0:13:28 > 0:13:29And my generation,

0:13:29 > 0:13:32there were lots of women who wanted to become architects.

0:13:32 > 0:13:33It was not uncommon.

0:13:33 > 0:13:37And there was some women, who were of the older generation,

0:13:37 > 0:13:42who were already practising in Baghdad.

0:13:42 > 0:13:46That's another weird thing for people thinking about what people

0:13:46 > 0:13:48might think of Baghdad today.

0:13:48 > 0:13:50The idea that women were treated...

0:13:50 > 0:13:53What was interesting about that period in Iraq,

0:13:53 > 0:13:57people had some level of freedom.

0:13:57 > 0:14:00It was not such a weird thing to do.

0:14:01 > 0:14:04You know, I thought, "I can design clothes," you know.

0:14:04 > 0:14:06So I designed clothes which didn't work, you know.

0:14:06 > 0:14:11But my mother would make me wear them, so I could learn a lesson.

0:14:11 > 0:14:15But actually, what was weird, it was a punishment,

0:14:15 > 0:14:17but actually, my friends all loved it.

0:14:17 > 0:14:19They had never seen a dress like that, you know.

0:14:19 > 0:14:23I would change the sleeve and cut it off,

0:14:23 > 0:14:27or have a thing made which looked silly - they thought it looked silly,

0:14:27 > 0:14:32I thought it looked great - and my friends all thought it was amazing.

0:14:32 > 0:14:35I think the only reason I got away with it is

0:14:35 > 0:14:40because I didn't like anything, you know, I was always, like,

0:14:40 > 0:14:43"This thing itches me,"

0:14:43 > 0:14:49"This thing doesn't work for me," so my mother said,

0:14:49 > 0:14:56"OK. "I give you a salary," like a pocket money, my five pounds a month,

0:14:56 > 0:14:59"and with that, if you want, you can go shopping."

0:14:59 > 0:15:02Because she didn't want to be involved

0:15:02 > 0:15:04any more in buying my clothes.

0:15:04 > 0:15:08So by the age of seven, eight, I can choose my own things.

0:15:08 > 0:15:10And I used to always...

0:15:12 > 0:15:14I was astonished by other people,

0:15:14 > 0:15:17that their mothers would pick their things for them.

0:15:17 > 0:15:22I mean, both my parents were very liberal. I don't know...

0:15:22 > 0:15:24I mean, you know, I wasn't privy to this,

0:15:24 > 0:15:28but whether they decided to let me, you know, experiment

0:15:28 > 0:15:31and see how far it goes.

0:15:31 > 0:15:35That sounds so like the Zaha we know. That sounds like you.

0:15:35 > 0:15:38- Yeah, well, that's how I was. - Yeah, and that's how you are.

0:15:38 > 0:15:40The only thing is that I was very shy.

0:15:40 > 0:15:42Well, maybe I still am.

0:15:44 > 0:15:47She may have been brought up in Iraq on the edge of the desert,

0:15:47 > 0:15:52but in 1972, Zaha went from the Arab world, where modernists

0:15:52 > 0:15:56were admired, to London, where architecture was in crisis.

0:15:58 > 0:16:03Buildings which had once seemed like solutions to post-war

0:16:03 > 0:16:05housing issues now seemed like problems.

0:16:05 > 0:16:09The only conclusion that we can come to is to pull the bloody lot down.

0:16:11 > 0:16:15Architecture was badly in need of new ideas and a new direction.

0:16:17 > 0:16:20There was one place, however, that had imagination and vision.

0:16:20 > 0:16:23MUSIC: "Suffragette City" by David Bowie

0:16:25 > 0:16:27The AA, the Architectural Association,

0:16:27 > 0:16:30in Bedford Square, was an incubator

0:16:30 > 0:16:34for progressive ideas and innovation.

0:16:34 > 0:16:38It was this school that Zaha headed for in 1972.

0:16:39 > 0:16:45This most radical of schools in the world sits, and sat at that time,

0:16:45 > 0:16:48in Georgian houses in Bedford Square,

0:16:48 > 0:16:52and I think that's really indicative

0:16:52 > 0:16:55that we occupied a historic building,

0:16:55 > 0:16:58but in a very unexpected way.

0:16:58 > 0:17:02So, it was literally a house of creativity.

0:17:02 > 0:17:04Just at the time that the British economy

0:17:04 > 0:17:06was really going down the drain,

0:17:06 > 0:17:09it stopped building anything that anyone was interested in,

0:17:09 > 0:17:12it found itself with perhaps the most powerful

0:17:12 > 0:17:14and inspiring architectural school on the planet.

0:17:16 > 0:17:18The visionary chairman of the AA at the time was

0:17:18 > 0:17:22this man on the elephant, Alvin Boyarsky.

0:17:22 > 0:17:27The AA under Alvin Boyarsky was all about exploring differences,

0:17:27 > 0:17:31right out to the sort of tentacles that they could go to.

0:17:31 > 0:17:35And so, it was literally explosive, because people were

0:17:35 > 0:17:42in competition, as it were, but in a way, the energy went to everybody.

0:17:42 > 0:17:44It was very anti-design.

0:17:47 > 0:17:50It was almost a movement of anti-architecture.

0:17:50 > 0:17:54The focus was that previous artists did not work,

0:17:54 > 0:17:57let's have alternative life.

0:17:57 > 0:18:00Alternative life meant experimentation.

0:18:00 > 0:18:06Testing noise in a warehouse, or converting an old bus.

0:18:06 > 0:18:11Students and teachers even set up a farm in Wales.

0:18:13 > 0:18:15But not Zaha.

0:18:15 > 0:18:20MUSIC: "Magic Bus" by The Who

0:18:20 > 0:18:21I didn't want to go to Wales.

0:18:21 > 0:18:27You know, and I wasn't going to do an inflatable bus. Some people did.

0:18:27 > 0:18:33I mean, the noise from that welding machine, welding that bus,

0:18:33 > 0:18:36is still ringing in my ear.

0:18:36 > 0:18:39Then they decided to lift it with a crane,

0:18:39 > 0:18:41because they didn't think about how they were going to get it

0:18:41 > 0:18:46out of Jimmy's yard, so they lifted it from a crane and then

0:18:46 > 0:18:48when it landed on the pavement, it just collapsed.

0:18:48 > 0:18:50It all came apart.

0:18:57 > 0:18:59FIREWORKS EXPLODE

0:18:59 > 0:19:01CHEERING AND WHOOPING

0:19:03 > 0:19:05There were also weird things going on,

0:19:05 > 0:19:11doing workshops with the first-year master tutor

0:19:11 > 0:19:15making love with one of his students on stage,

0:19:15 > 0:19:19and the boyfriend running around, trying to kill him, you know.

0:19:20 > 0:19:26The idea was that within all that mess, you will find your way.

0:19:26 > 0:19:29- Very '60s, very hippie. - Very '60s.- Yeah.

0:19:29 > 0:19:33And we did, because there was no-one else advising us what to do.

0:19:33 > 0:19:38We had to go - if you are curious, we had to go to every jury in the

0:19:38 > 0:19:45school, every presentation, and from that, suss out what is our next move.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50Zaha stormed through the school, trying out all

0:19:50 > 0:19:53the options on offer before settling on two teachers

0:19:53 > 0:19:55whom she found inspiring,

0:19:55 > 0:19:59themselves rising stars of radical architecture.

0:19:59 > 0:20:00Any other questions?

0:20:00 > 0:20:06She was definitely clearly talented and favoured by her tutors,

0:20:06 > 0:20:09Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis.

0:20:09 > 0:20:13It was clear from the beginning that she was

0:20:13 > 0:20:17on a kind of unstoppable trajectory that would, that would...

0:20:17 > 0:20:20I mean, it was very clear from the very first

0:20:20 > 0:20:26moment that she would be a name in the history of architecture.

0:20:26 > 0:20:29I'm really eternally grateful to them, because...

0:20:30 > 0:20:34..they showed me a glimpse of what it could be like.

0:20:40 > 0:20:43It was here that Elia and Rem led her, to the pioneering work

0:20:43 > 0:20:49of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich and the Russian Suprematists.

0:20:49 > 0:20:51Abstract and ground-breaking,

0:20:51 > 0:20:55it was these exploding compositions that most inspired Zaha.

0:20:57 > 0:21:00One of the triggers for Zaha's ideas

0:21:00 > 0:21:04about how space might erupt from the ground,

0:21:04 > 0:21:06how planes might intersect,

0:21:06 > 0:21:09comes from that period in Russian art.

0:21:09 > 0:21:14Her fascination for walls that grew out of the ground,

0:21:14 > 0:21:16of oversailing planes,

0:21:16 > 0:21:20might initially appear to be unbuildable and impractical

0:21:20 > 0:21:25in a rectangular world, and yet, as we can see, these things do work.

0:21:25 > 0:21:29I mean, Zaha really is a painter, I mean, it's a pity

0:21:29 > 0:21:33that she doesn't paint any more, so much, like she did then.

0:21:33 > 0:21:38And in fact, it was her painterly approach to composition that

0:21:38 > 0:21:42was kind of transferred into her three-dimensional

0:21:42 > 0:21:44architectural compositions.

0:21:44 > 0:21:47Very much like Malevich himself.

0:21:51 > 0:21:54Malevich was known as a painter of abstract canvases.

0:21:54 > 0:21:59But by the 1920s, he was pioneering experimental architectural models

0:21:59 > 0:22:01known as Arkhitektons.

0:22:02 > 0:22:08"Down with cupolas," he said. "Let wedges cut into the bosom of space."

0:22:10 > 0:22:13I do remember this incredible project of Zaha's,

0:22:13 > 0:22:18which was a series of rectilinear buildings that were

0:22:18 > 0:22:22scattered at odd angles across London, around the river.

0:22:22 > 0:22:29And the plans and drawings were obviously Russian

0:22:29 > 0:22:35in their inspiration, but had been applied to the city we all live in.

0:22:35 > 0:22:38It was fabulous.

0:22:40 > 0:22:44London was the destination for Zaha's student project, which

0:22:44 > 0:22:49transformed Malevich's Arkhitekton into a hotel over the Thames.

0:22:51 > 0:22:53A version of the original painting

0:22:53 > 0:22:56has pride of place on her living room wall.

0:22:57 > 0:23:00And that's the Hungerford Bridge, isn't it?

0:23:00 > 0:23:01That's Hungerford Bridge,

0:23:01 > 0:23:03and that is a Malevich tectonic sitting on Hungerford Bridge.

0:23:03 > 0:23:06And this is one of the very early drawings where, you know,

0:23:06 > 0:23:10the actual tectonic is also fragmented or broken.

0:23:10 > 0:23:13So, this is in its process of kind of, like,

0:23:13 > 0:23:17orbiting before it lands on Hungerford Bridge.

0:23:18 > 0:23:20The plan for Hungerford Bridge

0:23:20 > 0:23:23was something of a breakthrough for Zaha.

0:23:23 > 0:23:28It was a time of change, too, for Alvin Boyarsky and the school.

0:23:29 > 0:23:34So, within three years, that whole kind of what I call

0:23:34 > 0:23:38metaphysical wanking has kind of, not dissipated,

0:23:38 > 0:23:43it still carried on, but Alvin, by the late '70s,

0:23:43 > 0:23:47shifted to what I always call a projected reality.

0:23:47 > 0:23:52He wanted to push for projects which eventually could be realised.

0:23:53 > 0:23:57But Zaha's projects were not be realised just yet.

0:23:57 > 0:23:59After graduating from the AA,

0:23:59 > 0:24:03she would remain at the school as a teacher.

0:24:03 > 0:24:06It's what we all wanted to be at the time, the culture that

0:24:06 > 0:24:10we were trained in was focused on experiment,

0:24:10 > 0:24:13and on visions of architecture in cities.

0:24:13 > 0:24:17And most of what was being built, particularly in Britain,

0:24:17 > 0:24:19was pretty banal at the time.

0:24:19 > 0:24:22You wanted to carry on, I think that's really it,

0:24:22 > 0:24:26that the research, the excitement of being at the AA,

0:24:26 > 0:24:27you didn't want to leave.

0:24:27 > 0:24:30Zaha took over the unit, it was kind of,

0:24:30 > 0:24:34it had a reputation as Unit Nine.

0:24:34 > 0:24:38So, Unit Nine was first a unit with Rem and myself,

0:24:38 > 0:24:41and then in the end, after that, it became Zaha's unit.

0:24:43 > 0:24:47Those 10 years of AA teaching - well, it seemed like 30 years,

0:24:47 > 0:24:52but it was only 10 - were, I think, very instrumental,

0:24:52 > 0:24:56because everybody knew they were on the brink of discovering something.

0:24:56 > 0:25:00We didn't know what it was, it was not premeditated,

0:25:00 > 0:25:03we didn't know what it was, it was just, everybody knew, there was

0:25:03 > 0:25:09so much energy around, such a buzz, on the staircase

0:25:09 > 0:25:13and in the rooms, the whole punk thing

0:25:13 > 0:25:16and the fashion scene and all these costumes on the street, it was

0:25:16 > 0:25:21a phenomenal, very exciting time, what was going on.

0:25:21 > 0:25:23Not in architecture.

0:25:23 > 0:25:24I've never thought of you as a punk,

0:25:24 > 0:25:27but actually, I think you are a bit of a punk.

0:25:27 > 0:25:31But the whole atmosphere was about rebellion, you know,

0:25:31 > 0:25:34and challenging the status quo.

0:25:34 > 0:25:37Nobody wanted to be normal, you know.

0:25:40 > 0:25:42But Zaha was not only teaching.

0:25:42 > 0:25:46In 1979, she founded her own architectural practice.

0:25:46 > 0:25:51She was teaching by day and drawing and painting by night.

0:25:53 > 0:25:56So, I used to go out every night, I never drank,

0:25:56 > 0:25:59so I would come back and I had this tiny mews house,

0:25:59 > 0:26:03and I had my board there, my big painting,

0:26:03 > 0:26:07and everybody knew I would be home after midnight,

0:26:07 > 0:26:11so people would come over at night, used to honk their horn in

0:26:11 > 0:26:15their cars or motorbike or whatever, and pop by at two in the morning.

0:26:15 > 0:26:19I was always there. You know, I can paint and talk.

0:26:19 > 0:26:23She would watch American Gigolo all through the night,

0:26:23 > 0:26:25over and over again,

0:26:25 > 0:26:30enjoying Richard Gere hanging from a bar upside down and doing pull-ups.

0:26:30 > 0:26:33But they were always behind,

0:26:33 > 0:26:37because by then I knew every scene in every one of his movies.

0:26:37 > 0:26:38So I could only turn around

0:26:38 > 0:26:42when I knew that my favourite scene would come up.

0:26:44 > 0:26:46But it was the set design of a Hitchcock masterpiece

0:26:46 > 0:26:48that really caught Zaha's eye.

0:26:49 > 0:26:54The other one that she'd have on repeat was North by Northwest,

0:26:54 > 0:26:58and in that, the mock-up of the UN building does look

0:26:58 > 0:27:00remarkably like one of hers.

0:27:04 > 0:27:08In 1983, when she was 33,

0:27:08 > 0:27:12Zaha won her first prestigious international competition.

0:27:12 > 0:27:14It was to design a clubhouse,

0:27:14 > 0:27:18to be located on the mountainside above Hong Kong.

0:27:18 > 0:27:22Her design was radical, but potentially, it was buildable.

0:27:23 > 0:27:26The Hong Kong Peak competition paintings were absolutely

0:27:26 > 0:27:29the sort of, you know, the eye-opener of all time.

0:27:29 > 0:27:32Fabulous sense of colour, for instance.

0:27:32 > 0:27:34Her three-dimensional grasp

0:27:34 > 0:27:37is almost beyond everyday comprehension.

0:27:37 > 0:27:42This extraordinary, huge canvas, which evoked the quality

0:27:42 > 0:27:47of gravity-free building, The Peak was an explosion.

0:27:54 > 0:27:57Nigel came in and he said, "How are you doing?"

0:27:57 > 0:28:01I said, "I don't know, I've just won The Peak." He said, "What?!"

0:28:01 > 0:28:06I had the juries in the school, and the students from other units

0:28:06 > 0:28:09all brought champagne and it was just completely wild.

0:28:14 > 0:28:19The landscape of Hong Kong was as significant in the way it was

0:28:19 > 0:28:22drawn as the proposal for the building itself.

0:28:23 > 0:28:27The detail of those urban landscapes was suppressed,

0:28:27 > 0:28:30as though it was all a kind of rocky outcrop.

0:28:32 > 0:28:38But within that vocabulary of relatively spiky

0:28:38 > 0:28:45and jagged forms, you could see already the desire for fluidity.

0:28:47 > 0:28:51The Peak was the peak and still remains a peak.

0:28:51 > 0:28:55I have a feeling it is still the guiding or should be

0:28:55 > 0:28:57guiding light forever.

0:29:00 > 0:29:03Despite the brilliance and ambition of the project,

0:29:03 > 0:29:07Zaha's client lost the site and it was never built.

0:29:08 > 0:29:11Did you expect it to happen?

0:29:11 > 0:29:15What did you feel when it didn't and how did you find out?

0:29:15 > 0:29:19Well, I was sad. It was like in our grasp.

0:29:19 > 0:29:22You know. And you know it could happen.

0:29:24 > 0:29:26But it didn't.

0:29:26 > 0:29:29And yet the Peak did put Zaha on the map.

0:29:29 > 0:29:33Her work was attracting the attention of young architects

0:29:33 > 0:29:34from all over Europe.

0:29:34 > 0:29:37Patrik Schumacher was one of them.

0:29:39 > 0:29:44So this is the famous Studio 9. It's the first space we had.

0:29:44 > 0:29:46That's where I first knocked on the door of Zaha's...

0:29:46 > 0:29:50So once it was one room or two and now

0:29:50 > 0:29:53it's an entire complex of buildings?

0:29:53 > 0:29:56Every one of which you entered and took over. You squatted...

0:29:56 > 0:30:01One by one and picking up. Now we have another building.

0:30:03 > 0:30:08Patrik first encountered Zaha's work as a student in Stuttgart in 1983.

0:30:10 > 0:30:14She had won the Peak and that meant she was published.

0:30:14 > 0:30:17Her publication was circulating around universities.

0:30:17 > 0:30:21She was a star. A young star, 20 years before she was known

0:30:21 > 0:30:22outside as a star.

0:30:24 > 0:30:27What Patrik did next was apply for a job.

0:30:28 > 0:30:30I had an interview, not with her, actually.

0:30:30 > 0:30:33With one of her collaborators.

0:30:33 > 0:30:37This was only a very small group at the time. Four people only.

0:30:37 > 0:30:41I was hired and started work. It was very funny.

0:30:43 > 0:30:47She didn't acknowledge my assistance for the first four weeks.

0:30:47 > 0:30:50- I opened the door for him but I didn't want him there.- You didn't?

0:30:50 > 0:30:56- No.- Why?- I didn't like him. And I didn't want to talk to him.

0:30:56 > 0:31:00- He got on my nerves.- So there was initially no communication at all.

0:31:00 > 0:31:03Not even a hello, an acknowledgement!

0:31:03 > 0:31:04HE LAUGHS

0:31:04 > 0:31:06Anyway, I sacked him every week.

0:31:07 > 0:31:11He would be upset and go for a walk and there was another guy who walked

0:31:11 > 0:31:15with him to calm him down and say don't worry,

0:31:15 > 0:31:17she'll come around eventually.

0:31:18 > 0:31:21So this was curious. But I was absorbed in the work.

0:31:21 > 0:31:23I was getting on quite well.

0:31:23 > 0:31:26How long did it take you for you both to get into a rhythm?

0:31:26 > 0:31:28A few months.

0:31:29 > 0:31:33- And...- He's a really fantastic guy.

0:31:33 > 0:31:35He's stubborn, my God.

0:31:35 > 0:31:40But he's been an enormous support to me.

0:31:40 > 0:31:46And he's also a very good designer. He is very smart.

0:31:46 > 0:31:50And I think he's been an incredible asset.

0:31:50 > 0:31:54You've got to have an ego, haven't you? How is Zaha's ego?

0:31:54 > 0:31:55Huge.

0:31:59 > 0:32:03It was ten years after winning the Peak that Zaha, now working

0:32:03 > 0:32:08happily with Patrik, completed her first major built project,

0:32:08 > 0:32:10The Vitra Fire Station in Germany.

0:32:13 > 0:32:16Dramatic and abstract, it is unmistakably Zaha Hadid.

0:32:20 > 0:32:23Helene Binet has been photographing Zaha's work ever since.

0:32:25 > 0:32:29There's never been any building like this.

0:32:29 > 0:32:34It's an absolute luxury in life to photograph something that you

0:32:34 > 0:32:35have no reference.

0:32:35 > 0:32:39Your image is about discovering, understanding

0:32:39 > 0:32:43and not referring to anything else.

0:32:43 > 0:32:44It's a gift.

0:32:47 > 0:32:50From her images, it's apparent that the lines between art,

0:32:50 > 0:32:53sculpture and architecture have been crossed.

0:32:55 > 0:32:59Zaha hadn't just studied Malevich, she had absorbed him.

0:33:02 > 0:33:03I could follow the process

0:33:03 > 0:33:08and be then during the construction side, when the moment where it is

0:33:08 > 0:33:13only concrete before the door, before the fire alarm, before anything,

0:33:13 > 0:33:17where it's just structure, just the skeleton, just the concept,

0:33:17 > 0:33:21the purist you can have. Like here, there will be a door later on.

0:33:21 > 0:33:28But at the moment it's purely this incredible ceiling, roof standing

0:33:28 > 0:33:30on some concrete. The sense of magic,

0:33:30 > 0:33:37the sense of pushing the construction technology to the extreme.

0:33:37 > 0:33:41She always had building where I think

0:33:41 > 0:33:43the engineer must have had big headache!

0:33:43 > 0:33:51She said I want to just forget about any gravity and let it flow

0:33:51 > 0:33:54and it has to be concrete, heavy but free and light.

0:33:54 > 0:33:56So...it was amazing.

0:33:58 > 0:34:01She has created an incredible signature.

0:34:01 > 0:34:04Concrete became something else, I think, after her.

0:34:06 > 0:34:08Not a bad result for a project,

0:34:08 > 0:34:12which started life not as a building at all, but as a chair.

0:34:13 > 0:34:15That is what Vitra owner,

0:34:15 > 0:34:18Rolf Fehlbaum originally commissioned them to design.

0:34:20 > 0:34:23So why not the chair? Is that more difficult than a building?

0:34:23 > 0:34:25It's not a trivial matter.

0:34:26 > 0:34:29A chair is quite a difficult product.

0:34:29 > 0:34:34We were in a different world. It's a very self-contained object.

0:34:34 > 0:34:36It needs to be neat.

0:34:36 > 0:34:39We were in a much more explosive territory.

0:34:39 > 0:34:42The furniture we created were more kind of,

0:34:42 > 0:34:45semi-usable, abstract interior landscapes.

0:34:45 > 0:34:47So that didn't work.

0:34:47 > 0:34:50He said, "Maybe the chair is too restrictive.

0:34:50 > 0:34:53"How about if you do the fire station?"

0:34:53 > 0:34:55HE LAUGHS

0:34:55 > 0:34:57It's... "How about designing this building?"

0:34:57 > 0:35:00Poor Rolf was so patient.

0:35:02 > 0:35:05What an extraordinary building.

0:35:05 > 0:35:08In that it actually allowed Zaha to

0:35:08 > 0:35:12physically realise those early canvases,

0:35:12 > 0:35:16which were all about slicing blade-like buildings,

0:35:16 > 0:35:19sharp-edged like glittering sabres.

0:35:23 > 0:35:27We had so many different approaches. We were never satisfied.

0:35:27 > 0:35:32We kept holding back. Rolf said, "Oh, that's great. I want to build that."

0:35:32 > 0:35:34We said, "No. It's not ready. We're unhappy with it."

0:35:34 > 0:35:38I can remember at one stage Rolf calling me up and saying,

0:35:38 > 0:35:41"Deyan, does she really want to build it?"

0:35:42 > 0:35:45"Could she make a few decisions, please?"

0:35:45 > 0:35:48But they're celebrating the 20th anniversary this year.

0:35:49 > 0:35:51Rolf is one of her strongest supporters still.

0:36:02 > 0:36:05Since completing the fire station in 1993,

0:36:05 > 0:36:08Zaha has designed many buildings that haven't happened.

0:36:10 > 0:36:14Her vast archive room contains models of her successes

0:36:14 > 0:36:15and her failures.

0:36:17 > 0:36:21To this day, I'm angry that this was not built. The Cardiff Opera House.

0:36:21 > 0:36:24It was very buildable.

0:36:24 > 0:36:27This would really have not only established her name rather sooner,

0:36:27 > 0:36:30as an architect who could build, as opposed to

0:36:30 > 0:36:32an architect who could draw

0:36:32 > 0:36:34and paint and model.

0:36:35 > 0:36:39But also it would have been the Bilbao Guggenheim

0:36:39 > 0:36:42of England and Wales.

0:36:43 > 0:36:45The crime was Cardiff.

0:36:45 > 0:36:47That was really horrible.

0:36:49 > 0:36:52- You won it not once but twice, really.- Three times.

0:36:55 > 0:36:59I don't know. It was a very strange situation.

0:37:01 > 0:37:04I could easily have gone, you know...

0:37:04 > 0:37:06- Hysterical!- ..crying, whatever.

0:37:06 > 0:37:09Because we were treated very badly.

0:37:12 > 0:37:14But they didn't want us. You know.

0:37:16 > 0:37:18I don't know what they wanted, actually.

0:37:18 > 0:37:23Cardiff in the late 1990s was not a place to try to build

0:37:23 > 0:37:25an adventurous piece of architecture.

0:37:25 > 0:37:27Especially if you were an adventurous Arab,

0:37:27 > 0:37:29an adventurous Arab woman architect.

0:37:29 > 0:37:31It was just too much for the city.

0:37:32 > 0:37:37I was a nonentity. I was known here in the profession within London.

0:37:37 > 0:37:38But in Wales, they didn't know me.

0:37:40 > 0:37:43They...didn't expect me to win it.

0:37:44 > 0:37:46The Millennium Commission,

0:37:46 > 0:37:51which was going to be funding most of this, took against Zaha, I think

0:37:51 > 0:37:55personally, and almost started a campaign against the building.

0:37:55 > 0:37:58I was told by one of the leading Millennium Commissioners,

0:37:58 > 0:38:00"This is unbuildable." Complete nonsense.

0:38:00 > 0:38:02It's not unbuildable. It was perfectly buildable.

0:38:02 > 0:38:06It was engineered by the same people who engineered the Sydney Opera House.

0:38:06 > 0:38:08That is not a difficult building to build.

0:38:08 > 0:38:12Yet this was the propaganda that was being put out at the time.

0:38:12 > 0:38:17Many people thought the drawings we did were so obscure

0:38:17 > 0:38:19and very difficult to understand.

0:38:19 > 0:38:23But we do drawings of every kind.

0:38:23 > 0:38:28The plaza sections are not the same as a normal building.

0:38:28 > 0:38:31It's not a square building. Or a rectangle.

0:38:33 > 0:38:37That project was easily... Could be easily done.

0:38:37 > 0:38:42There was a lot of prejudice against who she was.

0:38:42 > 0:38:46Oddly enough, not just because she was of Iraqi origin,

0:38:46 > 0:38:51not just because she was a woman, but because she is from London.

0:38:51 > 0:38:55There was that there as well. "You, the Millennium Commission,

0:38:55 > 0:39:02"are parachuting in poncey London architects down to our capital

0:39:02 > 0:39:04"in Wales and telling us

0:39:04 > 0:39:06"that we're going to build some oddly-shaped thing.

0:39:06 > 0:39:09"Thanks very much. What's Welsh about that?"

0:39:09 > 0:39:15What a bad decision those Welsh guys made. Really stupid.

0:39:15 > 0:39:19There they had this fabulous architect,

0:39:19 > 0:39:22with this fantastic design and they blew it.

0:39:22 > 0:39:23They just completely blew it.

0:39:26 > 0:39:30And one could boycott Wales forever, just on that basis. Why not?

0:39:32 > 0:39:37I think we gained a lot of strength through it. And enormous support.

0:39:38 > 0:39:42Honestly, until very recently, if I'm at the airport

0:39:42 > 0:39:46or in a restaurant or on the street and people come to me

0:39:46 > 0:39:49and say, "We're Welsh and we're sorry what happened."

0:39:50 > 0:39:55It deserved to win the competition. It's a masterful piece of work.

0:39:56 > 0:39:59I'm just so sad it was never built. That's Britain for you.

0:40:03 > 0:40:05Zaha's work has always been distinctive.

0:40:06 > 0:40:10These paintings, concepts for different projects,

0:40:10 > 0:40:11are works of art in their own right.

0:40:17 > 0:40:18For ten years...

0:40:18 > 0:40:25Well, maybe five years after Cardiff, we were absolutely stigmatised

0:40:25 > 0:40:31everywhere because people thought that's such a bad karma,

0:40:31 > 0:40:33bad something. We don't want them.

0:40:33 > 0:40:40We did a number of competitions. We lost all of them. And then...

0:40:40 > 0:40:43Why did you lose all of them?

0:40:43 > 0:40:48Well, maybe it was too radical, too unusual at the time.

0:40:48 > 0:40:52Maybe too sketchy. That continued most throughout the '90s.

0:40:52 > 0:40:57So we've lost most of what we've been doing for over a decade.

0:40:57 > 0:41:00What did it feel like to be in an office where you know you've

0:41:00 > 0:41:04got this powerful presence and creativity

0:41:04 > 0:41:06and yet you don't win anything?

0:41:08 > 0:41:12There was always the optimism and hope that the next one will be it.

0:41:17 > 0:41:20The thing that kept me going is that I really enjoyed the work.

0:41:20 > 0:41:22It was very tough.

0:41:22 > 0:41:26I feel the times I enjoyed the most were the toughest moments.

0:41:26 > 0:41:31We were left to develop these ideas through competitions.

0:41:32 > 0:41:37I always thought at the end, we'll win.

0:41:42 > 0:41:45Competitions are almost an invitation to push the boundaries

0:41:45 > 0:41:49of possibility and to offer things that other people can't think of.

0:41:50 > 0:41:55Therefore, that's what she's good at. And that honed her abilities.

0:41:55 > 0:41:58We had no money.

0:41:58 > 0:42:00These people just...

0:42:01 > 0:42:04..didn't let go.

0:42:04 > 0:42:07Patrik was to teach in Germany but he wouldn't

0:42:07 > 0:42:12charge me for working in London because he knew I had no money.

0:42:12 > 0:42:19I couldn't pay him. I think, in the '90s, honestly, none of us slept.

0:42:20 > 0:42:24For ten years we were maybe ten people but we did work for

0:42:24 > 0:42:27the equivalent to 100 people.

0:42:27 > 0:42:33It was... That increased our repertoire.

0:42:33 > 0:42:36So when we did get work eventually,

0:42:36 > 0:42:41it wasn't so difficult because we had tested every option.

0:42:43 > 0:42:49It's only because we worked on every competition, we killed ourselves

0:42:49 > 0:42:52until we won Cincinnati.

0:42:52 > 0:42:59And one year we won Rome, Wolfsburg, the Ski Jump, one after the other.

0:43:01 > 0:43:07The flourish with which to exit the wilderness years came in 1999

0:43:07 > 0:43:12with her winning entry to design a contemporary museum for Rome,

0:43:12 > 0:43:15a baroque city not famed for its modern buildings.

0:43:16 > 0:43:19You could call MAXXI modern baroque.

0:43:22 > 0:43:25It seems appropriate that someone who is as much an artist

0:43:25 > 0:43:29as an architect should design a museum for art and architecture.

0:43:31 > 0:43:33Completed in 2009,

0:43:33 > 0:43:37it won the prestigious Stirling Prize the following year.

0:43:38 > 0:43:43The museum space of the MAXXI is a completely fluid space.

0:43:43 > 0:43:46And you can see from here how it is not easy to

0:43:46 > 0:43:50distinguish between gallery and movement space.

0:43:51 > 0:43:54Concrete can become something incredibly elegant,

0:43:54 > 0:43:57incredibly beautiful, a smooth,

0:43:57 > 0:44:01sweet surface that takes you round the building in a beautiful way.

0:44:03 > 0:44:07It's an architettura dolce. Molto dolce.

0:44:15 > 0:44:17We are in the lobby here.

0:44:17 > 0:44:20And when you see all the movement around, you can

0:44:20 > 0:44:22think of the Guggenheim by Frank Lloyd Wright.

0:44:22 > 0:44:26In this case, this is the highest point of architectural

0:44:26 > 0:44:28excitement, I would say, in the building

0:44:28 > 0:44:31because it is where you can see all the galleries.

0:44:31 > 0:44:33It is a panopticon that lets you understand more or less

0:44:33 > 0:44:37the organisation of the space of the building so it is most important.

0:44:37 > 0:44:40And it is also where the people meet.

0:44:44 > 0:44:48Look, an actual card model,

0:44:48 > 0:44:53and it is getting that sinuousness of the whole building.

0:44:53 > 0:44:58You've got these deep, very thin concrete blades

0:44:58 > 0:45:03coming down over your head to mitigate the daylight.

0:45:03 > 0:45:05You can pick holes in it.

0:45:05 > 0:45:08The old building at the front it kind of erupts from like some

0:45:08 > 0:45:09kind of body.

0:45:10 > 0:45:14There is always this implication of the building's tendrils,

0:45:14 > 0:45:20just going on further, taking over other structures,

0:45:20 > 0:45:24almost like a kind of self-generating city.

0:45:25 > 0:45:29The fluidity is to do with what one calls streams.

0:45:30 > 0:45:37It is like a delta of rivers where they are frozen in time.

0:45:37 > 0:45:43And by bifurcating and crossing, it also acts as a structure

0:45:43 > 0:45:47so that it makes it rigid or stable.

0:45:47 > 0:45:50And it forms courtyards.

0:45:53 > 0:45:57Rome wanted a gallery for art that did not yet exist.

0:45:57 > 0:46:02A truly futurist project. MAXXI is modern baroque, fluid baroque.

0:46:05 > 0:46:09We think of the 21st-century art as an art

0:46:09 > 0:46:12we don't really know what it's materiality would be about,

0:46:12 > 0:46:15if it will be about materiality, if it will be about relations,

0:46:15 > 0:46:19about movement, about performance, about physical stuff.

0:46:19 > 0:46:25So the museum itself is a dynamic concept which transforms

0:46:25 > 0:46:27itself into space.

0:46:30 > 0:46:34It is the most demanding art space one could possibly imagine.

0:46:34 > 0:46:37There are parts of it which feel like being thrown into a washing machine

0:46:37 > 0:46:41and spun around on your head, which I find personally rather exciting.

0:46:41 > 0:46:44And it is something which initially artists find difficult.

0:46:44 > 0:46:47But they will respond to it and they will find ways to make it work.

0:46:49 > 0:46:50The challenge for Zaha

0:46:50 > 0:46:53was not easy because there wasn't a curator at the time

0:46:53 > 0:46:57so there wasn't a clear precise programme for the building.

0:46:57 > 0:47:02So it was somehow the architecture that shaped the life of the museum.

0:47:16 > 0:47:19I think that it got a level of attention from Zaha

0:47:19 > 0:47:24and from Patrik which maybe, once they became globally famous,

0:47:24 > 0:47:28doing lots of projects all over the world, huge staff, etc,

0:47:28 > 0:47:30maybe that level of attention, inevitably,

0:47:30 > 0:47:32as with all architects at that level, starts to drop off.

0:47:32 > 0:47:36But this, it has got forensic levels of attention on it.

0:47:36 > 0:47:40And the fact that it was done really pushing what was

0:47:40 > 0:47:45possible at a time when a technology was just coming in to make

0:47:45 > 0:47:48other forms possible, makes this significant for me.

0:47:48 > 0:47:51So I would say, best of early Zaha, MAXXI in Rome.

0:47:55 > 0:47:57Whilst MAXXI was still being built,

0:47:57 > 0:48:01they won and completed two commissions in Germany.

0:48:01 > 0:48:06A BMW factory and a science centre in Wolfsburg.

0:48:09 > 0:48:11They're two very different buildings.

0:48:11 > 0:48:13The BMW building, I suppose,

0:48:13 > 0:48:15you could say belongs to the jagged period.

0:48:15 > 0:48:21But the Wolfsburg project is a remarkable invention of a building

0:48:21 > 0:48:25which sits on giant concrete legs like some kind of elephant.

0:48:28 > 0:48:30It was like a kind of Sydney Opera House of its time,

0:48:30 > 0:48:35by which I mean an architect designs a building which then

0:48:35 > 0:48:38the technology has to, in a sense, catch up with.

0:48:38 > 0:48:40How do you build something like this?

0:48:42 > 0:48:43It deals with very complex geometries,

0:48:43 > 0:48:46which are there in nature, clouds and everything.

0:48:46 > 0:48:50But up until that point, we hadn't imagined them, you only imagine

0:48:50 > 0:48:55how you'd draw that or how you make it stand up after you have drawn it.

0:48:55 > 0:48:57But once you have cracked that, what you suddenly realise is that

0:48:57 > 0:49:00was the small problem, the bigger problem is how you make it real.

0:49:02 > 0:49:06The norms of horizontal surface and a vertical surface disappear,

0:49:06 > 0:49:11things go through a transition. They are neither horizontal nor vertical.

0:49:11 > 0:49:16Therefore the interrelationship has to act as one big thing.

0:49:16 > 0:49:20To simulate the forces of gravity in something like that,

0:49:20 > 0:49:24rather than pieces and putting it together, was a massive challenge.

0:49:24 > 0:49:28It took us nearly 18 months to get computers to a level

0:49:28 > 0:49:31and we worked with software manufacturers to push

0:49:31 > 0:49:35the software as we were designing the building to a level where we

0:49:35 > 0:49:38could actually understand the gravitational forces of that.

0:49:39 > 0:49:41I'd never admitted to her

0:49:41 > 0:49:43that this building does not stand up, for about two years.

0:49:43 > 0:49:47I could not face the idea of telling her, not only can't we draw it

0:49:47 > 0:49:49but I don't think we can actually make it.

0:49:49 > 0:49:52We'd already won the job and we were starting on site.

0:49:52 > 0:49:56There is an element of fear in the whole relationship.

0:49:56 > 0:49:59You don't want to let her down.

0:50:00 > 0:50:05The science centre in Wolfsburg marked a step change in her practice.

0:50:05 > 0:50:08It was a conceptual leap away from the jagged towards

0:50:08 > 0:50:12the elephantine - the snaking, the snail-like.

0:50:12 > 0:50:16Made easier by what became known as Parametricism, of which Zaha

0:50:16 > 0:50:19and Patrik were pioneers.

0:50:21 > 0:50:25Parametric design is fundamentally where you allow the computer,

0:50:25 > 0:50:31you feed it various ideas and then you allow it to invent form

0:50:31 > 0:50:34that you probably couldn't do in your mind.

0:50:35 > 0:50:40It is of such complexity that your brain couldn't think of it

0:50:40 > 0:50:42and your hand couldn't sketch it.

0:50:44 > 0:50:48What has been extremely fertile is to look back at nature

0:50:48 > 0:50:51and the way it handles complexity,

0:50:51 > 0:50:53and there are ways of doing this now with new tools.

0:50:53 > 0:50:57The new tools, first of all, we don't repeat elements,

0:50:57 > 0:51:01we always vary it to modulate elements.

0:51:01 > 0:51:04Instead of saying we have only one option, we just give you

0:51:04 > 0:51:08nearly random like nature, you just produce multiplicity.

0:51:08 > 0:51:10Gratuitously differentiation.

0:51:10 > 0:51:13And then we look at, yes, we could use these differences

0:51:13 > 0:51:15so there is a kind of evolutionary

0:51:15 > 0:51:20process of variation, selection and then reproduction.

0:51:20 > 0:51:21So like nature would do it.

0:51:21 > 0:51:24Your hair does not grow everywhere the same,

0:51:24 > 0:51:27it adapts itself to different contours, to different densities.

0:51:27 > 0:51:30Then you can follow the vector of transformation.

0:51:32 > 0:51:36The fact that we can look at things three-dimensionally

0:51:36 > 0:51:40in the computer, we can stretch them and pull them apart,

0:51:40 > 0:51:43connects very well with the parametric idea that

0:51:43 > 0:51:47if you depress a point or stretch it the other bits move with it.

0:51:47 > 0:51:50Just as when you are designing a car.

0:51:51 > 0:51:54People always misunderstand this whole thing about computing.

0:51:54 > 0:51:55They think...

0:51:55 > 0:52:00"They don't know what they are doing, they just press a button

0:52:00 > 0:52:05"and the computer does it." That is of course totally idiotic.

0:52:05 > 0:52:09For me, architecture is all about framing social interaction,

0:52:09 > 0:52:12social communication and with some of our buildings you get that feeling.

0:52:12 > 0:52:17There is always that space of flying, where you have, for instance,

0:52:17 > 0:52:22a lobby space where you see things below, above, in layers all around.

0:52:22 > 0:52:26If you go to buildings now also, you need atriums,

0:52:26 > 0:52:29you need to have an overview. What is happening in all these floors?

0:52:29 > 0:52:30Who is coming and going?

0:52:30 > 0:52:33So we need to sense what everybody is doing so that is why I think these

0:52:33 > 0:52:38environments are so important, they become an interface of communication.

0:52:38 > 0:52:42In our architecture, with every step new vistas open and close.

0:52:42 > 0:52:46So that is why they are called information richness,

0:52:46 > 0:52:50that kind of perceptual density of offerings.

0:53:00 > 0:53:03It might seem like pure architectural theory,

0:53:03 > 0:53:06but there are certainly new vistas in Innsbruck.

0:53:08 > 0:53:11You could say the Ski Jump is pre-parametric.

0:53:11 > 0:53:15It is still angular although odd angles.

0:53:15 > 0:53:17It is middle period Zaha.

0:53:19 > 0:53:24Another Zaha, a different Zaha can be found just across the valley.

0:53:30 > 0:53:36The Nordpark Railway takes off into pure parametric diversity and curves.

0:53:38 > 0:53:42Project architect Thomas Vietzke takes us on a tour.

0:53:44 > 0:53:48The Congress Station cantilevers in one of the main pedestrian

0:53:48 > 0:53:52accesses of Innsbruck and people's curiosity should be triggered

0:53:52 > 0:53:55because they see something foreign or unusual to them.

0:53:58 > 0:54:01At the same time, via these cantilevers,

0:54:01 > 0:54:04and via these very open floating roof shelves,

0:54:04 > 0:54:10we wanted to create a space that is very open and very transparent so it

0:54:10 > 0:54:16integrates into the flow of the city and it is welcoming to the visitor.

0:54:22 > 0:54:26Trains go from the city to the mountainside in under nine minutes,

0:54:26 > 0:54:29over a Zaha-designed S-curved bridge.

0:54:38 > 0:54:42It is the idea to create a lively space.

0:54:42 > 0:54:46It is not only the kind of space where you transit through,

0:54:46 > 0:54:49but people are also gathering around the station,

0:54:49 > 0:54:52looking at the architecture, looking at each other.

0:54:52 > 0:54:57We hope, and today I feel that you have this sense that it

0:54:57 > 0:55:01is becoming a destination in its own right, so to speak.

0:55:03 > 0:55:07This has been a fantastic site above the river about 1,000 metres

0:55:07 > 0:55:11so you really had to make something from these vistas.

0:55:11 > 0:55:16That is why this station is articulated like a plateau,

0:55:16 > 0:55:17above the city.

0:55:19 > 0:55:23It is almost pulled out of the steep mountainside

0:55:23 > 0:55:26and it darts in the direction of the valley.

0:55:26 > 0:55:29It is like a piece of melting ice sitting in the landscape

0:55:29 > 0:55:31like a piece of a glacier.

0:55:35 > 0:55:38The substructure is all concrete in a steel frame

0:55:38 > 0:55:40and they are clad in this frosted...

0:55:40 > 0:55:44this milky glass. They look like ice dribbles.

0:55:46 > 0:55:51There is no demarcating line between these things so it could

0:55:51 > 0:55:55look like a wing, it could look like an icicle, whatever.

0:55:58 > 0:56:03It is kind of a novelty in terms of its form, in terms of its shape.

0:56:03 > 0:56:06It is new for Innsbruck.

0:56:06 > 0:56:09It is not a wooden typical log cabin that you find

0:56:09 > 0:56:12sometimes in Tyrolean architecture,

0:56:12 > 0:56:18but it relates to the natural landscape of the Alpine regions.

0:56:22 > 0:56:28The complexity of these geometries is challenging to control.

0:56:28 > 0:56:34The fluidity, the non-repetitiveness of the forms.

0:56:36 > 0:56:41We used particular software in order to generate

0:56:41 > 0:56:44but also to control these shapes.

0:56:54 > 0:56:59So the shapes are made possible by parametricism and computers.

0:56:59 > 0:57:00But there's more to it.

0:57:03 > 0:57:07There is also a spiritual thing, you know, do you want to do angular

0:57:07 > 0:57:09or do you want to do curves?

0:57:09 > 0:57:13And the budget, frankly the budget is for curves.

0:57:13 > 0:57:19Frank says this, Frank Gehry says, "A flat piece of something, one dollar.

0:57:19 > 0:57:22"A single curve, two dollars.

0:57:22 > 0:57:25"Double curve, ten dollars."

0:57:25 > 0:57:26That just about sums it up.

0:57:30 > 0:57:32If a double curve is ten dollars,

0:57:32 > 0:57:35this building is priceless.

0:57:35 > 0:57:38Completed this year, though not yet open,

0:57:38 > 0:57:42it's the most extreme yet of Zaha's designs.

0:57:42 > 0:57:46It's organic, rolling.

0:57:46 > 0:57:49It slips and slides like Plasticine.

0:57:52 > 0:57:54It's a new cultural centre in Baku,

0:57:54 > 0:57:58capital of the once-Soviet state of Azerbaijan,

0:57:58 > 0:58:02a huge show-off project for the ruling family.

0:58:02 > 0:58:06It gave Zaha the opportunity to really stretch her wings.

0:58:07 > 0:58:10It's the ultimate Zaha experience.

0:58:11 > 0:58:14It's really basically three buildings.

0:58:14 > 0:58:18There is a library, convention centre, and a museum,

0:58:18 > 0:58:20and they kind of merge into one.

0:58:21 > 0:58:24And it's a very odd city because it's a mixture of

0:58:24 > 0:58:30Russian neoclassical and Soviet architecture.

0:58:35 > 0:58:37Baku's skyline is changing.

0:58:37 > 0:58:41New building are transforming the city at a rate of knots.

0:58:43 > 0:58:46Yet Azerbaijan's past is still apparent

0:58:46 > 0:58:50in the lives of the everyday Azeri people.

0:58:58 > 0:59:02Since the discovery of oil, Azerbaijan's economy

0:59:02 > 0:59:06has been one of the fastest-growing in the world.

0:59:06 > 0:59:11Evidence of this new wealth abounds in Baku's boulevards.

0:59:13 > 0:59:16You arrive there and as soon as you get out of the aeroplane

0:59:16 > 0:59:18you smell the petrol. It's very strong.

0:59:18 > 0:59:22You feel that it was a Communist country, all the big buildings,

0:59:22 > 0:59:25and now suddenly they want to make it beautiful,

0:59:25 > 0:59:29so they build new buildings, but they also make this fake facade.

0:59:29 > 0:59:32And behind you have all the old Soviet buildings.

0:59:32 > 0:59:35And it's quite dark and grey.

0:59:35 > 0:59:38And then you arrive at Zaha's site,

0:59:38 > 0:59:40and you have this explosion of white.

0:59:40 > 0:59:44And the light is very strong when it's sunny, so it's really white.

0:59:44 > 0:59:45It's like a flower.

0:59:47 > 0:59:51I don't think there's any building like that -

0:59:51 > 0:59:55it's a real palace - in Europe, been built since, maybe...

0:59:55 > 1:00:01I don't know, since Louis VIX with Versailles.

1:00:03 > 1:00:06It's a completely immersive field.

1:00:06 > 1:00:10It's re-examining the idea of the block.

1:00:10 > 1:00:13So it's not very much a block, it's not a building with a tower.

1:00:13 > 1:00:17It's very exhilarating, also it can be very calming,

1:00:17 > 1:00:20it's like going into the park.

1:00:20 > 1:00:23Because it has that kind of rock-like,

1:00:23 > 1:00:26landscape-like quality, fluid quality.

1:00:28 > 1:00:32We found very good people to do all the tiling,

1:00:32 > 1:00:34which is vacuum-formed.

1:00:34 > 1:00:40I think the idea was to make a completely seamless building,

1:00:40 > 1:00:43so the landscape literally crawls up the edge of the building

1:00:43 > 1:00:46and becomes like a mountain.

1:00:50 > 1:00:53It was very important that whatever we propose

1:00:53 > 1:00:57breaks away from the rigid, monumentalist Soviet architecture.

1:00:57 > 1:01:05We wanted to reflect Azerbaijan's sensual side.

1:01:07 > 1:01:10Turn the corner, and this building changes.

1:01:10 > 1:01:13With every angle, every turn,

1:01:13 > 1:01:16it reveals something new and unexpected.

1:01:16 > 1:01:21It's one of the most remarkable structures I've ever seen.

1:01:25 > 1:01:27There's a romanticism involved.

1:01:27 > 1:01:31And we wanted to do something very sensual,

1:01:31 > 1:01:35and at the same time, we wanted to do something very strong.

1:01:41 > 1:01:45Traces of Zaha's buildings, their outlines and curves,

1:01:45 > 1:01:48can be found in more ancient surfaces.

1:01:48 > 1:01:53Look closely and you'll see in this Arabic calligraphy familiar shapes.

1:01:53 > 1:01:57Carved before us is a line of fluid forms,

1:01:57 > 1:02:00like Zaha buildings set in stone.

1:02:01 > 1:02:04Fluidity in architecture in this region always existed.

1:02:04 > 1:02:07So if you look at Islamic architecture

1:02:07 > 1:02:13you always see the calligraphy or ornamental floral patterns

1:02:13 > 1:02:16running through all the interior surfaces

1:02:16 > 1:02:19from carpets to walls to ceiling to dome.

1:02:19 > 1:02:22In our case, we used fluid spaces,

1:02:22 > 1:02:27which is continuously running and without being iconographic

1:02:27 > 1:02:29or without looking at the past,

1:02:29 > 1:02:33can relate to a region's understanding of architecture.

1:02:35 > 1:02:36It's like surfing.

1:02:36 > 1:02:40Like the way when the wave breaks it builds from the ground

1:02:40 > 1:02:43and creates like a circular kind of arc.

1:02:48 > 1:02:53This building is as extraordinary inside as it is out.

1:02:54 > 1:02:58From every floor and angle, it awes and astounds.

1:02:59 > 1:03:04Spaces unfold for conferences, concerts and exhibitions.

1:03:13 > 1:03:16The building is not yet open to the public.

1:03:16 > 1:03:21Its spaces wait in anticipation of any activity.

1:03:21 > 1:03:24Its only residents are the government workers

1:03:24 > 1:03:26who are tucked away behind the scenes,

1:03:26 > 1:03:31and the cleaners who ceaselessly polish its surfaces.

1:03:34 > 1:03:39Zaha knows how to push us, the designers,

1:03:39 > 1:03:41the architects, to the limits.

1:03:41 > 1:03:44Always there is a pressure for innovation,

1:03:44 > 1:03:50and I think that's a good kick.

1:04:04 > 1:04:08Zaha's always had people who were very eager to work for her,

1:04:08 > 1:04:10because in the architectural profession,

1:04:10 > 1:04:13particularly amongst young people, she is a goddess.

1:04:13 > 1:04:17You know, she's very, very important, and very exciting to work for.

1:04:17 > 1:04:19Extremely difficult to work for -

1:04:19 > 1:04:22I would imagine. I've never worked for her.

1:04:22 > 1:04:27Zaha is, if you know her and if you understand her,

1:04:27 > 1:04:32and if you make allowances for the strength of her personality,

1:04:32 > 1:04:35is a very good collaborator.

1:04:36 > 1:04:38Very inspiring person.

1:04:40 > 1:04:42But you have to have patience

1:04:42 > 1:04:45to make these allowances.

1:04:47 > 1:04:50You have to give her room.

1:04:50 > 1:04:54If you try to constrain her, then she will explode.

1:04:54 > 1:04:57Are you a tough boss?

1:04:57 > 1:04:59I don't think so.

1:05:01 > 1:05:08I mean, if somebody is taking the piss, excuse my language, I am tough.

1:05:08 > 1:05:10But actually I'm a pushover.

1:05:24 > 1:05:27This is the biggest of Zaha's British achievements to date.

1:05:27 > 1:05:30The London Aquatics Centre -

1:05:30 > 1:05:32an iconic wavelike structure

1:05:32 > 1:05:35that landed two years ago in the Olympic Park.

1:05:38 > 1:05:41Its temporary seating wings are currently being removed

1:05:41 > 1:05:45to reveal its true, more fluid shape.

1:05:49 > 1:05:53It's a clear contrast with her first building in the UK,

1:05:53 > 1:05:59an angular Maggie's Cancer Care centre in Fife completed in 2006.

1:06:00 > 1:06:06In the years since, she's designed a Museum of Transport in Glasgow,

1:06:07 > 1:06:12and a school in Brixton, London - the Evelyn Grace Academy.

1:06:18 > 1:06:22This is London's latest Zaha building, and finally,

1:06:22 > 1:06:24her first in the centre of the city.

1:06:25 > 1:06:29It looks like a tiny piece of Baku

1:06:29 > 1:06:32has just landed in Kensington Gardens.

1:06:32 > 1:06:36It's a renovation project of sorts, and still a building site.

1:06:36 > 1:06:41It's a Zaha-designed extension to the new Serpentine Gallery.

1:06:43 > 1:06:45It will be a restaurant and social space,

1:06:45 > 1:06:49housed under what feels like a floating roof.

1:06:52 > 1:06:54Very nice.

1:06:54 > 1:06:56I want to become a photographer.

1:06:59 > 1:07:04Coming full circle, now that you are building all over the world,

1:07:04 > 1:07:08are there things you really want to do, still,

1:07:08 > 1:07:11which you are passionate about, in certain parts of the world?

1:07:11 > 1:07:13- London, for instance? - Yeah, I really would like to

1:07:13 > 1:07:19do something in London, only because I've lived here most of my life,

1:07:19 > 1:07:23and whenever you come across a site or a situation

1:07:23 > 1:07:26you always imagine what it would be like if you did something there,

1:07:26 > 1:07:28how it would be different.

1:07:28 > 1:07:33So there's like 40 years of imagining things to happen, you know,

1:07:33 > 1:07:34in London.

1:07:34 > 1:07:37And I do have an interesting take on the city,

1:07:37 > 1:07:41but also through teaching many years ago,

1:07:41 > 1:07:46I did always a London project, because I was curious about London.

1:07:46 > 1:07:49Also, at that time, people really looked at buildings.

1:07:49 > 1:07:52We would go out and we would travel

1:07:52 > 1:07:56to lots of countries to look at projects.

1:07:56 > 1:07:58Then that changed, people started looking,

1:07:58 > 1:08:03travelling and doing esoteric stuff, looking at landscape.

1:08:03 > 1:08:05Which was also very important, but...

1:08:05 > 1:08:11So I think it gave us also knowledge in how in one's head

1:08:11 > 1:08:15to superimpose one reality on another.

1:08:15 > 1:08:19So I always had these projected realities on London,

1:08:19 > 1:08:23and that's why I have always wanted to build here.

1:08:23 > 1:08:27So there is still a big opportunity for the city of London.

1:08:27 > 1:08:29Yeah, I personally think there is, yeah.

1:08:29 > 1:08:33It's maybe easier to achieve these things

1:08:33 > 1:08:39in places like Beijing than London,

1:08:39 > 1:08:41not because of regulations,

1:08:41 > 1:08:45but because, you know, you need to kind of convince people

1:08:45 > 1:08:50that it is possible to inhabit the city in a different kind of way.

1:08:50 > 1:08:55Anybody who is a pioneer has massive challenges.

1:08:55 > 1:08:58And Zaha is somebody resolutely of her own time,

1:08:58 > 1:09:00but also well ahead of her time.

1:09:00 > 1:09:02And it's like night follows day.

1:09:02 > 1:09:05It wouldn't matter whether she was called

1:09:05 > 1:09:08Zaha Hadid, John Smith or Mary Jones. It is... That's the territory.

1:09:08 > 1:09:11And it's a very tough territory to inhabit.

1:09:11 > 1:09:15What is so fantastic is the recognition she now has.

1:09:15 > 1:09:17And rightly so.

1:09:17 > 1:09:21And so this is a moment of incredible flowering for her,

1:09:21 > 1:09:23but she is a pioneer. She's still a pioneer.

1:09:26 > 1:09:29Up to 20 years ago, people did not anymore

1:09:29 > 1:09:32believe in what I always call the fantastic.

1:09:32 > 1:09:35They did not think that world was possible.

1:09:35 > 1:09:41Some people still don't think it's possible. And it is.

1:09:41 > 1:09:44You know, we do this, really,

1:09:44 > 1:09:47so you can be in a very simple space like this and feel good.

1:09:47 > 1:09:50And it's as simple as that.

1:09:56 > 1:10:00Maybe they can loan it to us while it's empty.

1:10:00 > 1:10:01To have a party.

1:10:03 > 1:10:05We can have a potato party here.

1:10:05 > 1:10:07What kind of a party?

1:10:08 > 1:10:10A potato party.

1:10:13 > 1:10:16I don't know why you put up with it.

1:10:16 > 1:10:21We want to do a party serving every kind of potato.

1:10:21 > 1:10:25But it looks like a potato chip anyway.

1:10:31 > 1:10:34Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd