1

ZAHA HADID
Commands the Architecture Does she remember her roots?

History of Architecture thesis AR3Auh25

Instructor Dr. R.J. Rutte
Student
Tara A. Rauof 1270532
Delft University of Technology
Faculty of Architecture August 2007

Contents
Introduction
Zaha Hadid Biography / CV
1 Female Architect!!!!
How did a woman from Baghdad conquer a world dominated by men?
Conclusion
2 Muslim Architect!!!!
Can we consider Zaha Hadid as a Muslim architect?
Islamic architecture
2-1 Element of Islamic Architecture
2-1-1 Minarets
2-1-2 Domes
2-1-3 Iwans- domed chambers
2-1-4 Arches
2-1-5 Courtyard
2-1-6 Arabesque
2-1-7 Calligraphy
2-1-8 Water
2-2 Features of Islamic architectural tradition
2-2-1 Abstraction
2-2-2 Irregularity
2-2-3 Hidden architecture
2-2-4 Non Tectonic effect
2-2-5 Orientation
Regional versus Universal
2-3 Le Grande Mosque in Strasbourg France 2000 versus Islamic Architecture.
Conclusion
2-4 The Islamic Art Museum in Doha Qatar 1997 versus Islamic Architecture.
Conclusion
2-5 The sculpture bridge in Abu Dhabi 1997 versus Islamic Architecture.
Conclusion
2-6 The Department of Islamic Art at Muse du Louvre in France 2005 versus Islamic
Architecture.
Conclusion
General Conclusion
Literature list

Zaha Hadid Biography / CV

Zaha hadid, the only daughter, among tow brothers of Wajeeha Sabonji and Mohammed
Hadid. Both born and raised in north of Iraq in the third big city of Iraq El Mosul. Her
father, Mr. Hadid a quite powerful man full of strength and morals, in the early 1950s he
earned a bachelor degree in economics from London. In the sixties, he became a social
democrat and a leading businessman. Her mother gets married to Mohammed Hadid right
after finishing high school. Both of her brothers are businessman now.
Zaha's character is shaped by her background, being born and raised in Iraq until the age
of 16. She still has quite nice memories of her liberal environment at home and a diverse
environment at al-Raahibaat High school among Muslims, Jews, Sabi'eans alongside
Christians students. In 1966 she traveled to Switzerland to study the A-level, at the age of
17 and after successfully completing the first year she went to London to complete the
second year of the A-level. In 1968, she left London to Beirut to join the American
University (AUB). At the age of twenty-two Zaha earned a Bachelor of Science in
Mathematics. After that she knew that architecture is her thing so she entered the
Architectural Association School in London, after four years she was awarded the
Diploma Prize in 1977. Rem Koolhaas was her mentor at the Architectural Association
he admired her work very much that he offered her to be his partner at the Office for
Metropolitan Architecture with Elia Zenghelis. But Zaha had her ideas of doing things
differently so she start to work on her own since 1979, she start to enter competitions
after competitions and exhibitions after exhibitions. Her first prize winning was the Peak
Competition in Hong Kong at the age of thirty-two. This was her first opportunity to
move from the competition phase to the real world to compete with her fellow men
architects worldwide. In 1983, she quit her partnership with her two teachers, and in 1985
she moved to her current office in East London. She in not only an architect but she is a
furniture designer, an interior designer, a painter and a drawer.

Since 1987 she is worldwide recognized, she held the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate
School of Design and Harvard University, the Sullivan Chair at the University of
Chicago. She is guest professor at the Hochschule fr Bildende Knste in Hamburg, the
Knolton School of Architecture and the Masters Studio at Columbia University. She was
the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design for the Spring Semester
2002 at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Honorary Member of the American
Academy of Arts. Among numerous awards and prizes Ms Hadid was awarded in 2004
the Nobel Prize of architecture, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. And last but not least
she is currently professor at the University of Applied Art in Vienna.

Awards
59 Eaton Place, London - Gold Medal Architectural Design, British Architecture, 1982
Honorable Member of the Bund Deutsches Architekten, 1998
Honorable Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2000
Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects, 2000
Mind Zone, Millennium Dome, London - RIBA Awards 2000
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - FX Awards 2001 Finalist
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - Equerre d'Argent special mention,
2001
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - AIA UK Chapter Award, 2002
One-north Master Plan, Singapore - AIA UK Chapter Honorable Mention, 2002
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - Red Dot Award, 2002
Bergisel Ski-Jump, Innsbruck - Austrian State Architecture Prize, 2002
Bergisel Ski-Jump, Innsbruck - Tyrolean Architecture Award, 2002
Commander of the British Empire, CBE, 2002
Car Park and Terminus Hoenheim North, Strasbourg - Mies van der Rohe Award 2003
Architect of the year 2004, Blueprint Award
Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati - WIRED Rave Award 2004
Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati - RIBA Worldwide Award 2004
Zaha Hadid, Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2004
London Architect of the year, London Architectural Biennale 2004
Honorary Fellow of Columbia University, New York City 2005
Member of the Royal Academy of Arts, London 2005
RIBA Medal, European Commercial Building of the Year (BMW Central Building) 2005
Deutsche Architektur Prize, Building of the Year (BMW Central Building) 2005
Finalist for the RIBA Stirling Prize (BMW Central Building) 2005
Her best known projects to date are
The Vitra Fire Station and the LF One pavilion in Weil am Rhein, Germany (1993/1999)
A housing project for IBA-Block 2 in Berlin, Germany (1993)
The Mind Zone at the Millennium Dome, Greenwich, London, UK (1999)
A Tram Station and Car Park in Strasbourg, France (2001)
Ski-Jump in Innsbruck, Austria (2002)
The Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, US (2003)
The BMW Central Building (2005) in Leipzig, Germany
The Ordrupgaard Museum Extension (2005) in Copenhagen, Denmark
Exhibitions
Haro Museum, 25 Years of the Deutsche Bank Collection, Tokyo, Japan
The Wallpaper Global Edit, Salone, Milan, Italy
Zaha Hadid, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
All the Best Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

1 Female Architect.
How did a woman from Baghdad conquer a world dominated by men?
If someone ask me to mention ten most successful architects in the world? I will be able
to recommends even twenty, but I think it will be quite difficult to memorize a few
talented female architects, quite pity.
Women in general do not rise to the top in Architecture not on an international level.
Not in the stratosphere where Zaha now moves. It is unfortunately mans world, a club
where womans does not get to be invited. And yet here she is the worlds most famous
female architect, a charming women from Baghdad of al places a British citizen now 57
years old but effectively ageless.
I can describe her as a legend. She struggled to made herself, on an interview for the
Lebanese TV, she was asked about her success, was it a matter of being lucky or is it
fate?, she answered neither, it is working very hard
It is also about working in a mans world. Architecture en family life does not mix well
for women. Thats why she is single and her private life is unknown. In other fields like
female doctors or lawyers, they proved themselves in a good way. They managed to have
both of them a career and a family life. But in our domain, the problem is that you can
not stop and start, there should be a continuity in the progress of the work.
But there is still a world that women are prohibited from entering. Not because men do
not want you there. But there is still a kind of taboo. Men go to get clients, they go
canoeing, golfing, yachting, doing sport together 3. After all she gets what she wants by
operating differently through her talent, grafts, and force of personality.
As a person she is been described in so many ways that I think that I know her
personally. A former assistant of her said once. It is never dull, but she is a complete
nutcase. You are dealing with a screaming harpy most of the time. In a way it is quite
sad. I think she may be unhappy with herself. She is chaotic. She is quite moody, on a
bad day she can treat you like a slave, her team is a wear of that but yet it is an honor to
work for her, actually it is my dream to work for her someday.
A scary ride this is how they describe joining her enterprise but like I said I am ready to
get a ride with her other 136 employs in London and others in Italy, Germany and China.
Maybe a look back to her childhood would help us to understand the mercurial Zaha.
She is born in Baghdad 1950 of liberal parents. She grew up in a very different Iraq from
the one we know today. Iraq back then was a liberal, secular, western-focused country
with a fast-growing economy that flourished until the Baath party took power in 1963,
and where her bourgeois intellectual family played a leading role. Hadids father was a
politician, economist and industrialist, a co-founder of the Iraqi National Democratic and
a leader of the Iraqi Progressive Democratic Parties. Hadid saw no reason why she should
not be equally ambitious.
They were Muslim but they have chosen the catholic school because it was the best at
that time they tried to get me to cross my hart and pray it was a little bit confusing for
her. She talks about her early days in Iraq and says Despite the political uncertainty of
those army-controlled, pre Saddam days it was a fine city. Like most of us Zaha and her
family the most professional classes at that time had to quit that country after the rise of
Saddam and the non stop war scenario.

Her wealthy family was able to send her overseas to study architecture at the architectural
association in London. It was always her dream to be an architect since she was 8 years
old. She was very intrigued by every thing around her such as her mothers beautiful
Italian late fifties furniture or friends who studied architecture. At that time she began to
see things differently 4.
Zaha must still have same thing in her hart towards the country that she came from. She
said always that she would love to do something there it will be great to combine a way
to rescue that place with architecture. She describes it as a wounded society that has to
be rectified first but then with housing and hospitals and educational building one can
start draw architecture to it. I agree with her there is nothing left of that image in my
head of Iraq. We should start from scratch step by step and it is along journey.
At the architectural association in London, she was a student of the Dutch architect Rem
Koolhaas, Hoe admired her work and saw a rise of a new generation of architect in her
and he had absolutely right. Another witness of her talent was Nigel Coates a student at
the same time, now professor of architecture at the Royal Collage of Art She was always
exasperatingly volatile. She always did take you to the limit. Thats what we loved about
her, and thats why her work has got that confidence about it. I always knew she was
special. But I would not have predicted that she would turn out to be as successful as she
is. Shes outdone the men at their own game.
After graduation Zahas life was very tough on all counts. She did not get to the level
where she is right now easily.
Her path to wide world recognition has been a heroic struggle as she rose to the highest
ranks of the profession. She has a dynamic forms and strategies for achieving a truly
distinctive approach to architecture and its settings 6.
Her recognition was without doubt when she continues to win competitions. But I think
also her determining to get her original design built at any cost was the key of her
success. She saw in the competitions that she joined, the way to experience her
exceptional ideas and to introduce it to the world. She always struggles to get her very
original winning entries built. She has used the competition experiences as laboratory for
continuing to hone her exceptional talent in creating an architectural idiom like no other
6.
Despite her talent and her originality there is a group of architecture hoe are until now
against her work maybe because they are jealous or just against funny shaped buildings.
It long looked as if those building dreamed up by Zaha could not be realized until 2050.
Such a building witch are strongly influenced by the revolutionary art and architecture of
the early Soviet Union The Constructivists, was in the 70s just a dream.
So maybe the successful British traditionalist architect, Robert Adam was right when he
said what Zaha do is not architecture at all "It is abstract sculpture disguised as
architecture and it's very interesting, but what is the philosophy, the theory, behind it? Is
she just doing these interesting shapes because she can? Once people stop cleaning them,
they will start to deteriorate very quickly. In five or ten years they may start to fall to bits
and you'll be left with some pretty nasty jagged objects." 3.

After all, the dream became realty in 1983 when she wins her first international success
being a sport club in Hong Kong. This project was never built because of its complexity,
despite the reassurances of her famous engineer, Arup (who made the Sydney Opera
House and Paris's Pompidou Centre).

The Peak club Hong Kong 1991

Hadid's career has been made up of 10-year steps: after 1983 and her winning project,
her first ever building was erected in 1993 being the new Cardiff Bay Opera House and in
2003 saw the opening of her CAC in Cincinatti, a museum hailed by the reputed
architecture critic Herbert Muschamp as "the most important American building to be
completed since the end of the Cold War".
Going back to 1993 and her second big opportunity to design the new Cardiff Bay Opera
House, it is a quite sad story back then. Some did not like a Londoner, a thick accented,
olive-skinned female with attitude at that time to take charge of a key Welsh cultural
building, here again another example of many obstacles in her career.
She was attacked by the press and briefed against. One particular Millennium
Commissioner toke the matter very personally and determined to stop her at any cost.
Of course the campaigns succeeded. On December 22, 1995, her design project was axed
to the benefit of a local architect.
On an interview to the British press, she was asked about her opinion about what
happened then, "Some of the Welsh behaved abominably," she says. "There was a group
in Cardiff - I never understood what their game was. Perhaps they didn't like foreigners,
or women, I don't know. On the other hand there were others who were fantastic. I swear
to God, for maybe five years after Cardiff, people would stop me on the street in London,
in America, at the airport, and say - we're Welsh, and we're very embarrassed about what
happened." 4.

The Cardiff Bay Opera House 1994

This drama was very tough for her, she was so deeply attacked that she had a doubt
moments, should she continue with architecture or not?

But after all it gave her strength and with the support of her faithful sidekick Patrick
Schumacher, they carry on to enter competitions one after another. And when she found
her self in most the same situation, when she won the competition for the 75m, 20,000seat Aquatics Centre in the Lea Valley - to be the home of water sports in the 2012
Olympics, she did not let herself to be the fall girl this time.

The water sports Olympics 2012

Tessa Jowell, the Culture and Sport Minister, said that Zahas design had doubled in cost
and she had to reconsider her design. This time Zaha did not hesitate to stop this silly
game, she gets a written apology from the DCMS. "We are grateful for, and supportive
of, the work carried out by your team," and the highly-placed architect Lord (Richard)
Rogers -who had co chaired the competition jury - wrote to the papers in her defense.
The career of Zaha Hadid has not been traditional or easy, it took time to let people
understand her exotic dreams but it did not remain unappreciated after all.
She has now won the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize
and most prestigious architecture award in the world. The first female architect of global
standing, Hadid will also be the first female Pritzker laureate ever, and the third UKbased architect (following James Stirling and Lord Foster) to receive the honor. The prize
is awarded to living architects who have "produced consistent and significant
contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture".
Zaha received this prize as a tribute to her talent, to the role model she represents, to the
optimism that her work exudes, and to the integrity and uncompromising ethic stands she
has taken in defense of architectural imagination and freedom 6.
She is such a greatly talented and very persistent and strong woman and jet she was not
protected from poorly written lines in the media, searching for another hidden reason
why she is being awarded.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize 2004

The New York Times reporter- Herbert Muschamp, who wrote constructive reports for
years about Zaha, couldn't swallow all of his pride when announcing about her winning
of the Pritzker Prize! He wrote in the March 22, 2004 issue: "Zaha Hadid is a woman and
Iraqi-born, and her identity is news in its own. It would not surprise me if the jury that
has awarded Ms. Hadid this year's Pritzker Architecture Prize took these factors into
account. The Pritzker's scope has always been international. Never in the prize's 26-year
history has a global outlook mattered more."
He tried to highlighting two issues in his paragraph, the first one by saying that Zaha was
awarded not because of her one-of-a-kind, superior-to- men work, but because of the fact
that she is a women, and the second one was the fact that she is an Iraqi which means
patronizing the entire Iraqi community with this prize, really what a compensation for the
war, robbery and slaughter of Iraqis. And oh ya, what a generosity of the Hyatt
Foundation and the American system! And then his final line, "never in the prize's 26year history has a global outlook mattered more," Does that mean that during twenty-six
years, not even one single women deserved to win this Males' Prize? If you check the list
of the architects winning the prize during the last twenty-six years, you will see that it has
been mostly awarded to White Western Males. In twenty-six years, non-white/nonwestern men won only three times (from Japan of course).

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Conclusion.
After reading a lot of books, articles and interviews over her at the same time having
myself almost the same background as her, I can say that she is a remarkable women by
all means. She made herself by herself although I can not deny same factors witch can
play a significant role such as Connections Thanks to her family connections, she was
never short of a bob or two and there was always stories about the fact that she was never
been short of money and over an enduring story about her family coming to her London
graduate show in Rolls-Royces, she said in an interview My father would have hated to
sit in a Rolls-Royce, he was very puritanical that way but my brothers may have. People
here thought I was rolling in money, but it wasn't the case. It was difficult to get money
out of Iraq. It was a struggle. But, OK, I can't say I'm poor.
Being born in Iraq made her path to British recognition quite difficult, it's typical of Brits
to test there best architects overseas first.
The British recognition came obviously late. For more than a decade you could not find
one single building of hers in the capital city London where she has worked throughout
her life. Her project the pioneering care buildings for people affected by cancer in
Scotland tell you one thing: now she's welcome in London, too.
To many men and women, she can be viewed as arrogant and vulgar. She is being
described most of the time as a diva, to many stories of her habitually being late, rude,
stamping on unsatisfactory models in the office, smashing computers. Maybe she is
unhappy with herself after all.
Knowing that she has spent a quite long time in Iraq must have affected her in some ways
and It brings me to the second question of my essay witch is what is left of Iraq in her?
I remember being intrigued by Architecture at the age of 8. I began to read about the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon and everything in the history books, but what intrigued me
was the idea of the architect as a modern figure 4.
She was once asked if she is feeling as British as her passport now a day?
I feel very much a Londoner. It's always hit me how British I can feel in other countries.
But with some other things - music, say - I'm an Arab. And I'm an Iraqi. It's not about
being patriotic or nationalist. I can't erase those years I spent in Iraq. And I do like the
country a lot. I had a very nice childhood. There was that wealth, those incredible human
resources, it's unbelievable.

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2 Muslim Architect!!!
Can we consider Zaha Hadid as a Muslim architect? Is she an architect first and a
Muslim second, all of both or nothing of both?
Whatever you think an architect looks like, whatever you think an architect does,
wherever you think an architect comes from, disappointing your selves of those notions.
And consider instead ZAHA HADID, the most extraordinary success story of this time.
Being raised in a liberal, open-minded family allowed her to explore new ways of doing
things and think critically. Being exposed to many different cultures while always
stressing the importance of her heritages, was very significant for her creative
development. Attending a Christian school was the fist step to define the marginality in
her life. I never had a traditional education as a Muslim. In the Arab world, Islamic
culture and Arab culture are the same. It's a cultural situation, not a religious situation.
All these aspects give us an idea of the environment where she developed her architecture
style 4.
I think Zaha Hadid is challenging the stereotypes imposed on the Islamic community in
the west. Contemporary in the quality of her design, deconstructive or not, it reflects the
correctness of her bearing imagination as she design she exercises a vital, creative
aesthetic. After all and despite all the efforts to destroy the image of the Islamic heritage
and culture, Islam cannot remain hidebound in the modern world - it is the power of
Islam which compels the adaptation of materials, techniques and design principles of
global Muslim communities, making them dynamic even in the face of oppression.
This dissension between Arab and Western influences in her style is always remained as
undefined question. What I am trying to accomplish with my essay is to find an answer to
the above listed question by searching in some projects of her in the Middle East and
comparing them with types, elements and features of the Islamic architecture.

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Islamic architecture.
The Islamic architecture is a very wide term; witch begins from the Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem to the Taj Mahal in Agra, of all the cities, from Baghdad to Samarqand and
Istanbul. They have all several languages of architecture with some common features, yet
they were not all the same but in the aggregate, it leads to a creation of a recognizable
architecture family of its own.
The design and construction of most of the building in the Islamic world are influenced
by the spirit of Islam and Islamic culture they have to determine some specific qualities
inherent in Islam as a cultural phenomenon. It can be recognized as different from other
architectures due to the use of special references, elements and features that does not
change its forms easily, if at al. From the foundation of Islam until now, a wide range of
both secular and religious architecture styles has encompassed by the Islamic
Architecture.
The most famous four principle types of Islamic architecture are the mosque, the tomb,
the palace and the fort. Each one have its own elements, so what I will try to do is
collecting the vocabularly of the Islamic architecture style in these buildings to feed mine
research for an easteren flaiver in Zahas work 2.
2-1 Element of Islamic Architecture
I have to begin with the most common element of Islamic style that can be formally
recognized from far away.
2-1-1 Minarets
A tall- in the majority of time free standing- tower with a small cross section [square or
Octagonal]. It consists vertically of three levels, the base, the shaft and the gallery.
According to the location there are different local styles from being surrounded by a
spiral staircase or terminating in covered balconies.
The major function of the earliest minaret was the call to prayers witch is being given
from the top of the minaret. But there is another quite efficient function of the minaret,
natural air conditioning, when the dome getting heat up by the sun the air is drawn in
through open windows and out of the shaft witch is the principle of natural ventilations.

Taj Mahal

2-1-2 Domes
One of the most beautiful structural solution very ingenious at that time. It can be placed
upon a simple circular base or above a number of arches witch are used to bridge a square
base. Many Domes are provided with a special structure with opening called lantern to
provide the cupola with light and ventilation. There is now a day so many other
architectural areas like sports stadiums that are domed especially in climates that have
widely-variable summer and winter weather.
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Dome of the rock

Mohammed Ali Mosque Egypt

2-1-3 Iwans- domed chambers

A fundamental design unit in the islamic architecture caming origenlay from the Sassanid
architecture of Persia.It can be defined as vaulted spaces open out on one end. The four
Iwan scheme is widely used in Islamic architecture as single balanced plan, but
unfortunately hardly survived in its pure state for long in the Muslim world, as being
dissolute of its balance and absorbed into the greater complex [the mosque-madrasa of
Sultan Hasan in Cairo is a good example of the distortion of the original plan of the four
Iwan scheme.]

Taj Mahal

The Great Mosque of Damascus

2-1-4 Arches
Arches are a remarkable ingenious technique for bridging the corner developed by the
Islamic world. Arches have a verity of shapes such as round, elliptical, pointed or
inflexed. They are being used these days too in bridges for example.

Round Arch

Elliptical Arch

Pointed Arch

2-1-5 Courtyard
Meanly are private enclosed open to the sky space that are merged by building. They are
mostly used in private house but also in Mosques. It has two functions; the first one is to
provide security and privacy. But on the other hand it have a climate function like
protecting from outside dust, wind, sun and an aid to cooling the building.

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Madrasa of Sultan Hassan Egypt

Al-Azhar Mosque Egypt

2-1-6 Arabesque
It became increasingly characteristic element of the Islamic architecture. It depends on
using specific geometric forms applying them symmetrical with changing its scale to
generate a pattern and then repeating them to create a variety of effects. Arabesque is a
beautiful Islamic art to decorate the wall of almost every Islamic building.

2-1-7 Calligraphy
Calligraphy means beautiful writing. It is the art of using Arabic letters and developing
them to reach a high level of sophistication. It is being used to decorate walls and ceilings
in linear and circular forms. The origin of calligraphy is the holy book of Islam, alQur'n, some time they are unreadable due to complexity.

Friday Mosque Isfahan

Taj Mahal

2-1-8 Water
Water can be considering an essential part of Islamic architecture, in such hot Islamic
climates water represent the symbol of Wealth, fertility and coolness. So beside its
function of cooling and irrigation in Islamic gardens, it forms one of the most beautiful
element of decoration as it reflect like a mirror, multiplying patterns, emphasizing the
visual axes by extending them beyond the limitations of the physical. Water is being used
in the form of channels and pools, witch are immutable, yet constantly changing; fluid
and dynamic, yet static. Water channels are flowing through marble from room to room
to fill basins and descending in cascades. Pools are also widely used in courtyards as a
sense of openness and repose 2.

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Taj Mahal

Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque Iran

2-2 Features of Islamic architectural tradition

At this point I have to search deeply in the Islamic architectural tradition to highlight
some hidden principle features witch I can use in my further research.
2-2-1 Abstraction
A specific phenomenon of the Islamic architecture is the abstraction witch means that
there is almost no specific form that can not be adapted by different function rather that
the one it was designed for in the first place and vises versa, a Muslim building with a
specific function can assume a variety of forms. There is no need to design a scheme for a
specific purpose but a perfect scheme, an absolute scheme that can serve several
purposes, a great example of this is the four Iwan plan witch is being used by mosques,
madrasa, bathes and privet dwellings.
Another form of abstraction in the Islamic architecture is the lake of relationship between
the design or the scheme and the location. Any scheme can fit at any time to any location,
far from analyzing the site first to design a building that suite the location.

Madrasa al-Mustansiriya Baghdad plan of a House Zawareh Iran Mosque of Ibn Tulun Egypt
The same form with the same element adapted by different function.

2-2-2 Irregularity
One of the curious features of the Islamic design is the irregularity of planning. There is
mostly no indication of direction but a cell structure of irregular form. All part of the
building is accumulating around a specific center point of the original scheme. Another
feature witch is greatly related with this issue is the lake of physical direction witch
consequently lead to lake of balance witch can be clearly recognized in all the Islamic
buildings, all the time. When an architecture design doesnt show an axial quality that
means various parts of the building are swimming around in an equal manner and that
allowed an organic growth in almost any direction by just adding new units to the
original scheme, a perfect example of this is the design of Mosques like the Friday
mosque of Isfahan. This represents a huge contrast with the European architecture with
its sense of direction and its completely balanced plan. Maybe the only exception of this
principle is the scheme of the four-Iwan courtyard plan witch is designed to be a single
balanced unit, maybe thats why it is always being considered as a pre Islamic, Iranian
concept.

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Cell structure with irregular form, all part of the building is accumulating around a specific center point of
the original scheme.

Four Iwan courtyard plan designed to be a single balanced unit.

2-2-3 Hidden architecture

The most dominant form of the Islamic architecture is the full paid attention to the inside
space as opposed to the outside, a maximum degree of contrast between interior
courtyard and an exterior undecorated, unarticulated and windowless walls. Such an
attitude gives the exterior envelop a mystery appearance by means of lake of indication of
the function, the purpose and even the inner organization. You have to really enter the
building to penetrate, to experience the inside world and you will be most of the time
surprised by the rich atmosphere, many architects are working very hard until today to
accomplish such a surprising factor in another frame. A typical example of the hidden
architecture is The Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus.

Extreme contrast between the interior courtyard and the exterior wall.

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2-2-4 Non Tectonic effect

Decoration, in the form of Calligraphy and Arabesque, in Islamic architecture are widely
applied to the faade. Beside esthetic values, the decorations have another function and
that is to create a non tectonic values witch means that the Muslims have paid a great
attention to neglect or even hide the element of the structure that are in other architectures
such as European architecture mainly articulated. It is really another huge contrast
between European and Islamic architecture, the first one emphasize the effect of
weightlessness; try to maximize the effects of unlimited space by decoration. Decoration
forms here an illusion, a visual negation of the existence of loads, stresses and weights
and the necessity of support witch was always very crucial in the European architecture
to create a visual satisfaction that the building will stand, on the other hand, the second
one emphasize the mechanism of the building, and the substantial of walls, columns,
bridges and values that are well known.

2-2-5 Orientation
The most favorite orientation in the world is the south or south-west witch ensure the
maximum advantage of the sun and all the other benefits concerning this issue. All the
buildings in the Arab world are oriented in the same way except one witch is the mosque.
If you draw all the invisible axes running from the mosques in the world towered the
Quibla you will get a matrix that looks like the house of a spider with Mecca, the
birthplace of Muhammad, as the last circle and Kaba, a hollow cube of stone, goes back
beyond the time of Mohammed, as the center point. It is diagonally oriented with its
corner facing the cardinal points of the compass. This liturgical orientation is a
determination for the design of a mosque; every spatial area is shifting along this axis 7.

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Regional versus Universal

After discussing the most relevant features of Islamic architecture to my research, I have
reached a specific point where a very important issue occurs a question that will forms a
fundamental basis of my essay.
Can we recognize the value of architecture as regional or universal?
If an architect was asked to design for example the embassy of USA in the Middle East,
would he or she design an Islamic looking building that will fit to the context? And if he
was asked to build the embassy of any country of the Middle East in USA for example,
would it be a building with Islamic cultural value?
To answer the above listed questions we have to start by another question witch is how an
architect designs? There is tow fundamental forces that deeply influence the way an
architect think about and imagine his or her design. These two prime forces are, first of
all, Culture witch I can describe as a great reservoir that changes every few years but
still very rich and clam, feeding the architect continuously. The second one is
Aspirations and it is very dynamic and volatile. These tow forces are very different from
each others by means of origin and effect but jet continuously interacting, so while some
aspiration can be quite ephemeral, other may become an integral part of culture 7. The
above mentioned forces are equally affecting all kind of arts from the most pure arts such
as poetry and music to much tougher arts such as architecture. To understand the position
of the design as a point along the axis run between these two forces drawn below, see
diagram 1.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

We have to consider tow other forces witch influence architecture more than any other
arts. Starting with the most primary and unchangeable force witch is Climate; the
architect must have a full control over all the complication that can occur by climate
conditions such as sun, wind and rain. At a deep level climate condition cultures itself, its
expression, its rites and rituals 7. Climate can be the source of inspiration, for instance,
Atriums witch open spaces to sky. The last force acting on architecture is the
Technology. It is the most affective force that act very directly on architecture and are
quite time dependent, cause technology developed every ten years and that means
shifting the position of the point in the following diagram {see diagram 2 and 3}.
As the technology changes, the architect have to replace some material with another new
one and that means that he has to take one of the following two ways either to use the
new technology to transfer an old image like the new domes we see todays, they are
superficially designed to give the old impression. Or he has to get the materials in a
transformation process and reinventing the architectural expression of the mythic values
they represent 7. Both ways can be done but the difference between them is that the first

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way get a superficial, weakened result and it provide no nourishment, but the other way is
full of challenges that makes the architecture interesting and renewable every time the
technology changes.
Thus architecture is the son of those four forces, the resolution of there influence acting
on the transformation process of the design.
So, I believe that architecture is regional not because of its journey back to the world of
the facial imagery but because of its expression of those four prim forces, culture,
aspiration, climate and technology. Although there is always some issues that are
universal. But after all they have to contact with the deep structure that lies beneath.
Despite al the information mentioned above, architecture is not per definition regional
and for every architect the same, thats why I asked myself whether the architecture of
Zaha hadid is regional or universal or non of both, cause she takes traditional spaces in
her hand manipulating them, sliding them, squeezing them to the unlimited extreme but
jet accomplishing an Excellent balance. Karen Stein one of the Pritzker Juror say some
thing remarkable. Zaha Hadid has built a career on defying conventionconventional
ideas of architectural space, of practice, of representation and of construction then she
describe her balanced extreme witch is in a way deeply rooted in the traditional
architecture. We recognize here a particularly exquisite balance of extremes that is
indeed revolutionary. Zaha was always an interesting material to European community
maybe because of her roots. The work, like the person, is not easily categorized:
outrageous yet thoughtful, otherworldly yet deeply rooted in historical tradition, one of a
kind yet a role model for a generation, fluid in effect yet leaving a powerfully fixed
impression, but above all characterized by a daring, restless energy that stretches known
limits of architecture and soars.
Bill Lacy the Executive Director of the Pritzker Prize Jurors said in his comments about
giving the prize to Hadid.
Only rarely does an architect emerge with a philosophy and approach to the art form that
influences the direction of the entire field. Such an architect is Zaha Hadid who has
patiently created and refined a vocabulary that sets new boundaries for the art of
architecture. Does she really try to create new boundary for the architecture or she just
reinvent existing concepts and values out of the rich vocabulary of the lost Islamic
architecture.
In the following part of mine essay I chose for four projects of Zaha Hadid witch are
listed below:
Le Grande Mosque de Strasbourg France, The Islamic Art Museum Doha Qatar, The
sculpture bridge Abu Dhabi and last but not least The Department of Islamic Art at
Muse du Louvre France. Two of them are designed to be built in Middle East, regardless
of whether they are realized or just remained as competition design. I will start to
carefully analyzing them and compeer them with the previous mentioned element and
features of Islamic architecture and I will start with Le Grande Mosque de Strasbourg
witch i think it wil be the easer one becoause it have the same function like the most
famous principle type of Islamic architecture, a mosque.

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2-3 Le Grande Mosque de Strasbourg France 2000 versus Islamic Architecture

elements and features.
By looking at the renders of the competition design, you can not say by the first look that
this building is a mosque; it does not have any of the most recognizable elements of any
traditional mosque in the Arab world. The first what you see is an abstract sculpture that
symbolize nothing else but itself.
Was Hadid determined to create such illusion or to generate an innovative perception of
the traditional scheme?
Design concept:
The design is a matrix of different spatial areas that are being established by the
intersecting between two axes, the first one is the axis for prayer or Quibla in one
direction and the curvature of the river in the other direction. Those two axes intersect at
a point fractalizing and generating volumes. Her first step of reinventing old concepts is
by emphasizing the liturgical orientation toward Quibla witch is also none the less the
principle determinant of the design of traditional mosques and by tying it with another
axis of the context. The nucleus or the intersecting point is being occupied by the mosque
witch is forming the focus of the project as a whole. The apex or the focus of this
directional field is thus the mosque itself. Its spatial significance is seen therefore above
and beyond the individual elements that comprise the building, see diagram 1.

Diagram 1: Two axes intersect at a point fractalizing and generating volumes.

Emphasis has been put in the treatment of the overall design to ensure the reflective
quality of enclosure, witch the culture and spiritual nature of this brief and project
demands. And this is established by the positioning of the courtyard, an element deeply
rooted in Islamic architecture, in away that it separates the men and womens prayers
space. We see here how she used a traditional element to get extra new advantage to the
scheme, the visual separation enhancing the privacy between the men and the women
prayer while providing for additional prayer apace if required. By positioning the women
prayer area as separate hall and opposite to a pure secondary gallery space, she tries to
give same invisible massages by recognizing the contribution of womens spiritual and
material culture in Islamic society specially, unfortunately a role they have always
maintained in Islam.
Zaha has successfully introduced water into her design in the form of channels drifting
across her plan on the ground floor and in the courtyard forming parallel lines to the
Quibla wall. Water as being a fundamental element of Islamic decoration and being the
source of every thing that has life [mentioned in Quran] is again manipulated by Hadid to
serve another two goals witch are first emphasizing the Quibla wall and its liturgical
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orientation. And secondly by using the subtle and discreet expression of water-flow to
endorse a soothing and gentle distraction.
Calligraphy is being also reintroduced in the design scheme as a layer appears as a part of
the internal skin of the prayer hall by using the elegant classical Thuluth Jali script and
some other Quranic verses. Those scripts are contemplated, selected and executed by
hand by a traditional master calligrapher 1. I think spending such an effort to reintroduce
a traditional element in an innovative frame will complement and contrast the
architectural arrangement, quite amazing feature of Zahas talent.
Selecting arches witch is the principle structural element of the building that are also
developed by Muslims in early days refers to her conscious of the sense of harmony and
proportion in Islamic architecture see diagram 2. A non traditional form of calligraphy
being apparent in the flowing lines of the arches and the section of the building.

Diagram 2: The Arch represents the sense of harmony and proportion in Islamic architecture.

Applying the principle of repetition and changing of the scale witch is again an art called
geometry transformed by Muslims, did create a bewildering variety of effects. The arch is
used not only to achieve esthetic values but also provide the striations that set up the
Quibla wall. The fractal space is actually taken from the Islamic geometry to generate a
mosaic or fragmented skin see diagram 3, witch provide unexpected composition of light
and sound 1. The fractal gives the reinforced concrete arches as a primary structure; this
in turn supports a secondary layer of interspersed concrete paneling, glass and ceramics.

Diagram 3: Mosaic or fragmented skin.

Zaha did slice the design vertically in to two part, she land all the secular function such as
the main entry of the building, auditorium, dining area and exhibition space, on the
ground level. The mosque and the courtyard are lifted above the ground removing it from
its urban context and enabling it to form a floating sacred space above the city. The

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exclusive physical connection between the secular part and the religious part of the
building is the courtyard, a dominant element of the Islamic architecture. Its function,
besides providing light and forming the only entrance to the mosque from the ground
level, is also to provide additional outdoor space for prayer when the mosque is full on
Eid or Jumma. The courtyard is the only Islamic architectural element, beside the
historical mosque wall, that is applied in this design with its traditional characteristic
features; witch is forming a private internal central space surrounded by the walls of the
auditorium, the library and the kindergarten.
The last element witch is being carefully introduced to the design is light, by giving it an
extra function of organizing the journey or ascent to the mosque from the ground floor.
The elevated mosque with its slits on the floor enables light to fill the secular function
below. In early Islamic architecture they try to apply materials that are shaped to reflect,
refract and be transformed by light and shade. And to maximize that effect they used
glossy floors and walls surfaces that catch light and throw it over those shaped materials
witch in turn reflected back. What Zaha did is almost the same thing by illuminating the
Quibla wall by light reaching it through slots between the main structural arches see
diagram 4.

Diagram 4: A wonderful composition of light and sound.

Finally Zaha says that the form of the mosque itself is derived from sound patterns,
reverberations and the play of daylight. But what I see by the first look at the form is an
Arabic tent pitched in the middle of rolling sand dunes in the Sahara desert.
Conclusion
After analyzing the scheme carefully, I reached to a very remarkable point witch is,
regardless of the fact that it is a competition of designing a mosque in Strasbourg in
France and despite the very fist idea that I had that the building does not reflect the
metaphor of a traditional mosque or any Islamic building. It is designed in a way that it
pays respect to the design principle of the traditional Islamic architecture and also it
reintroduces great historical values in an unconventional innovative frame so it can be
translated in Europe. The plan achieves a careful separation in the spatial allocation and
distribution of functional and public areas of the mosque. Its spatial significance is seen
therefore above and beyond the individual elements that comprise the building.
It is a presentation of ascertained sense of harmony and proportion. It illustrate traditional
element such as courtyards, Quibla wall, water, light, geometry and finally calligraphy
witch has served as a point of reference and inspiration for this design scheme, and it
finally introducer new concepts such as Quibla versus river, the elevated mosque, the
story of light and the fragmented skin.
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2-4 The Islamic Art Museum Doha Qatar 1997 versus Islamic Architecture
elements and features.
To start analyzing any design nowadays you have to begin by examining the renders
made for the competition, in our case the renders carries none of the expected
architectural references of Middle Eastern domes, arches or Iwans. Jet Zaha Hadid
introduces an interesting interpretation for the qualities of spaces in Islamic culture,
following her creative approach. Unfortunately she did not win but it worth to say that
she was one of the eight competitors reduced from 80 responses.
The al-Thani family, hereditary rulers of Qatar, has been for along time collectors of
paintings, weaponry, glassware, coins, books and manuscripts. To keep them save and to
make them accessible to the public, the government came up with the idea of an Islamic
Art Museum in the capital Doha.
Design concept:
The design is a series of horizontal and sloped planes that lay out as a field of
institutional influence that share a common form. The repetition of the same pattern with
moments of difference is perhaps an echo of the curves of sand dunes or an urban graft
a second skin to the site. It affiliates with the ground to become new ground, where
necessary it ascent and coalesces to become a mass. But truly it is deeply rooted in the
Islamic predilection for repetitive line with variety of combination, governed by
mathematical proportion, a field that Zaha command. Here we see another application of
calligraphy the geometry of line, resolving them in the urban context and setting it in an
innovative arrangement see diagram 1. Zaha gives here a lesson that calligraphy does not
have to be always an inscription reflecting a powerful visual sign containing a specific
religious message but it can also act as a sort of identity card of the function the building
contain. She offers the urban field as a world to dive into rather than a building as
signature object with decorative inscription on the facade.

Diagram 1; Repetition of the same pattern with moments of difference.

The site that was made available to occupy the project was very large, almost tow
hectare. It forms a key element in the city, surrounded by multiple urban fabrics,
bordering on the pedestrian Corniche, the harbor to the east and the National Museum to
the north. The Islamic city plans can be seen as a reference or a model appears either in
the continuous differentiated field of spaces in Zahas design, witch is much influenced
by the natural circumstances expressed through weather condition and topography, or in

24

the remarkable adaptation of Islamic architectural concepts like courtyards, terrace,

narrow curved covered streets and gardens, witch is mainly designed to coping with the
hot environment of Muslims world see diagram 2.

Diagram 2: Islamic architectural concepts;courtyards, terrace, narrow curved covered streets.

The proposal of Hadid try to consider the differentially of scales, beginning by the
Islamic arts exhibition spaces in the north near the state museum, then spreads, discerns,
slice and finally fuse into the landscape see diagram 3. The defining feature of the
museum is the waved roof; unifying two parts of the scheme witch are first the museums
field of spaces beginning in the north, followed by the galleries terrace towards the south.

Diagram 3: Differentially of scales

The second element of Islamic architecture slotted into the interior of the building is the
Islamic traditional courtyard or al Finas. The concept of courtyard is being integrated into
the proposed scheme to achieve two goals, first of all to bring landscape to the space
within and natural daylight to the heart of the scheme, secondly to create a remarkable
relationship between the inside and outside door. The pattern of north-south development
of the whole scheme is also established in the courtyard 1.
By looking at the top view of the design you will see that the scheme can expand in
almost any direction allowing future growth if needed. And such a non balanced plan due
to lake of indication of direction is well known in the Islamic architecture as Irregularity

25

of Planning, and will grow just by adding extra units as new sloped plans to the west or
east of the design or extending the upper or lower end of the waves see diagram 4.
This capability of growth is also mentioned in the brief because the accommodation have
to occupy more additional function in the future such as an education centre which will
offer programs to Qatar schools and the support services areas which will contain stores,
studios, laboratories and workshops.

Diagram 4: The scheme allows future growth.

This capability of growth is also mentioned in the brief because the accommodation have
to occupy more additional function in the future such as an education centre which will
offer programs to Qatar schools and the support services areas which will contain stores,
studios, laboratories and workshops.
Landscapes are widely applied in early Islamic architecture because it forms a particular
combination of functional and decorative uses. It is not surprising that Zaha is using such
an element to link the building to the context by means of running from the boundary of
the Corniche to the building edge then sloping down to the main lobby space breaking up
the boarder line between the landscape and building. Such an overlapping between mass
and vegetation will smooth the edges and create an inviting attracting entrance. Many soft
treated surfaces, paths and landscape strips are included in the proposed strategy.
Integrating landscape into the lobby space transformed it to a build landscape of terraced
plateau that lead to the painting galleries at the southern end oriented toward the harbor 1.
Conclusion
This design that I chose to analyze within mine essay is different from the fist one as
being a proposal design of museum of Islamic art in Doha Qatar, a Muslim land.
After examining most parts and features of the scheme, as far as I could, it is obvious that
there is an overlapping between Hadid's design and the esthetic values of her homeland's
traditions and I mean here by the esthetic values the organic, continuous geometric motifs
woven that are being applying to utilitarian objects. The competition for the Museum of
Islamic Arts in Doha was one of the most defiantly full of challenges and deeply
researched competition ever to have been organized in the Gulf. Because it have to serve
as a cultural resource for the people of Qatar and as a research institute that will attract
international interest and attention of a wide range of visitors from tourists to scholars.
And I think that the design respond to 'the architectural heritage and the contemporary
urban fabric' of Doha despite the fact that it did not won the competition.

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2-5 The sculpture bridge Abu Dhabi 1997 versus Islamic Architecture elements and
features.
The Sheikh Zayed Bridge will be the third bridge connecting the island of Abu Dhabi,
one of the United Arab Emirates, to the mainland including Dubai and the international
airport. The first bridge was the steel arch bridge built in 1967 to connect the south shore
of the Persian Gulf. The second one was constructed to connect the downstream of the
south side of the island built in the seventies. To complete the highway system was a
third bridge necessary, it will have four lanes, an emergency lane for vehicles and a
pedestrian walkway in each direction.
This unique bridge provides access to pedestrians that will enable the bridge to became a
destination in itself and to stimulate the urban growth of Abu Dhabi
Design concept:
The design of Zaha is for sure a design of unusually challenging proportions. The project
manager Henrik Andersen says The advanced geometry of the steel arches and the solid
concrete piers made it necessary to develop a highly detailed computer model of the
bridge in order to determine its behavior."
Lets begin by analyzing the dimension and proportion of the bridge, it is about sixtyeight meters wide and 842 meters long, with a central steel arch rise sixty meters above
water level and have a span of 234 meters, it have a cross section of up to 6 x 8 meters.
The main road crosses the bridge at a height of twenty meters above water level. It can be
described by gigantic sculpture snaking between the lanes of traffic or as a structural
strands fixed on one side of the shore then lifted and propelled over the length of the
channel, but I see some thing deeper than that, by looking at the renders, its main
reference or inspiration feature is actually the ingenious technique for bridging the corner
widely used in Islamic architecture in variety of forms and sizes called arches or arcades
see diagram 1.

Diagram 1: arches in an larger innovative setting.

And those technique are used particularly in constructing bridges like the Batman Su over
the Silvan and Bitlis Rivers witch have a central arch that span thirty meters, rising
twenty meters above river level photo 1, the Isfahan bridge witch have a roadway lined
with arcaded niches, photo 2 and last the Samarra Bridge over the Harba River where the
roadway is carried on four wide pointed arches of equal span and height, alternating with
narrower arches set within recessed panels photo 3. So I think the Islamic design idiom
dominate the architecture of the bridge, but also incorporates several western and
contemporary elements to reflect a universal outlook 1.

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Batman Su Bridge

Isfahan bridge

Samarra Bridge

The purpose behind choosing such a complexity of form and proportion is not only to
create an unusual outlook of a bridge but also the sinusoidal waveform is needed to
provide the structural silhouette. The asymmetrically spring of the steel arch refer, to me
actually, to irregularity of the plan witch consequently can lead to extending of the
structural strand because it does not show an obvious ending of the structural spin. And
this is again another form of Hadids making few apparent concessions to her Arab roots.
The bridge features extreme proportions in concrete and steel, the central pier alone
contains enough concrete to cover a football pitch to a height of five meters 1.

Diagram 3: Capability of extending the structural strand

Conclusion
The design of the bridge incorporates elements of Islamic architecture for sure, perhaps
because of its present in the United Arab Emirates or because of her need to invent new
limits or to push the existing limits of designing bridges further and further as she is
renowned for her obsession with being unusual and unique. Completion was scheduled
for 2006.

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2-6 The Department of Islamic Art at Muse du Louvre France versus Islamic
Architecture elements and features.
Muse du Louvre holds one of the most important Islamic Art collections in the world,
more than 3,000 objects waiting in the adjacent Decorative Arts museum to be shown in
public. The two collections will come together in an expansion of the department of
Islamic art in the Cour Visconti, a neo-Classical courtyard of the Louvre. The French are
renowned for there daring to combine contemporary architecture to historic monuments.
And the great example of there courage is the design of I. M. Pe,i the glass pyramid
entrance to the Louvre, witch shocked the world. Hadids submission did not win the
competition but her extreme and intriguing design is very relevant to mine research.
Design concept:
Zahas proposal was to extreme to win even for guardians of the French patrimony, its
being described in so many ways like a cardboard milk container that has been squashed
so that its bottom is severely bent back upon itself while its top is tentatively trying to
right itself or a tower skewed like a fish about to leap right out of its cultural pond.
Definitely the design is beyond such a description of milk container bet it is something
fitting for a King, or Queen or Mesopotamia. It promises to give a new look to the neoClassical courtyard in a gigantic fashion. But I have here too my opinion witch is that the
design is an abstract, modern sculpture able of adapting almost any desirable function, no
attention is paid to the style of the surrounded building or the history of the location see
renders below.

And this remind me of the abstraction is Islamic architecture maybe in a different, larger
setting but jet the same point of view of designing a perfect scheme that suit any function
and any location. From the mesmerizing renderings listed below you can see that the
mass or the volume does show nearly the same amount of abstraction from any angel of
view.

The second feature witch is quite obvious is her experiment of applying traditional
Islamic decorative technique in a radical innovative direction. She chose a specific
29

pattern like arrows and applied it to the building in the form of opening, then used the
principle of repetition singly or in joined pairs sometimes dark and slightly recessed,
sometimes protruding and golden 1, see diagram 1.

My last point of discussion is why she decides to design a metallic facade punctuated by
golden shining glamours decoration features. Is it because of the fact that it will be a
department of the Islamic architecture? if so, then why we can not see the same approach
by any other competitor? I think the only explanation is that she afford to do it she have
the background, the reservoir so why not, an amazing arrogant design that is highly
original 1.
Conclusion
Here again I chose a competition design of Zaha that is much related to an Islamic
function in one of the largest country of Europe, France. The question of considering the
architectural values regional or universal does appears again with this design. What I
think is that, she did prove that it can be nothing else but regional. Her proposal is a
brilliant masterly introduction of the Islamic historical forces of culture, inspiration to the
western society. Another fact witch is not less important is that, in her scheme we can not
indicate any existence of structure witch in turn reflects a non tectonic image witch
means that she hides the element of the structure by adding such a repetitive of pattern
decorating the volume as a whole. The mass is just standing there without any indication
of support creating a visual negation of the existence of loads, stresses and weights.

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Conclusion
I believe very much in the power of mythic imagery, witch is one of the basic
mechanisms involved in the design process. Every architect has an assortment of images
that are buried deep in our subconscious witch he or she uses unconsciously during the
design process. And a very good example of such imagery is the architect who designs a
glass tower coming out of the Arabian Desert and justifying it with hundred reasons
except the real reason witch is one of the images saved in his memory of perhaps the
quintessential city of the twenty-one century.
Not all the architect but most of the have access to that world of compulsive, mythic
imagery. By using those images as powerful elixirs is the architect able to transfer the
dross of everyday construction into something more vivid and exiting. And I think Zaha
should be one of them. The Islamic architecture provides a huge reservoir of such
imagery, starting by the desert spreading eastwards throw Yemen and India and westward
to Morocco and Spain. Most of the Middle Eastern artists who live in Europe consider
themselves as essentially secular, they are engaging with the iconography of their
cultures. But in the case of Zaha Hadid she is influenced by the Russian constructivism,
designs technical complicated architecture with partly exccentrical perspectives. Her
projects are seen as base for architecture in the 21st century and she never say that a
shape symbolizes this or that, she talks little about theory. So, you can hardly say that the
Muslim heritage does have contributed to her perspectives.
But I am not surprised that after analyzing four designs of her I came to a conclusion that
Zaha Hadid is being in same way touched by the beauty of the Islamic architecture. She
translates Islamic architectural features to a universal understandable language. Like she
did with calligraphy and geometry, she translates them to a repetition of lines vertically
or horizontally. She designs buildings that can not be interpret or identified just by its
appearance, she let us fly through her designed spaces and give us the feeling as if it
morphs and changes as we pass through, her obsession with Ambiguity and illusion is
without any doubt deeply buried in Islamic architecture tradition. And I believe after all
that there is nowadays no more a single Islamic or Middle Eastern architecture than there
is a single Christian or European architecture.
This essay is attended to be the first step in this direction. I was prepare to have at the end
of mine research a conclusion that there is nothing to be conclude, the idea of mixing
cultures, history and architecture is just an illusion. But fortunately it is there even in such
an extreme case like Zaha Hadid.

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Literature list.
1 Betsky Aaron - The Complete Work {Rezzoli international publication, New York ,
2000}
Binet - H- Architecture of Zaha Hadid {Lars Miller Publishers, Switzerland, 2000}
2 Grube J Architecture of the Islamic World {Thames and Hudson, London, 1978}
3 Hadid - Zaha M - Interview with Levene, Richard and Fernando Marquez {El Croquis,
Cecilia, 1998}
4 Hadid Zaha Interview with Marcus Fairs {Icon Magazine, UK, June, 2006}
Hadid - Zaha M - Interview with Yoshio Futagawa {Global Architecture, 1995}
5 Hillenbrand R Islamic Architecture Form, function and meaning {Edinburgh
University press, Edinburgh, 1994}
Isozaki A- Architect Zaha M Hadid {A D A Edita, Tokyo, 1986}
6 Pritzker Architecture prize citations {The Hyatt Foundation, Los Angles, 2004}
Singel P- Zaha Hadid {Axel Menges, Stuttgard, 1995}
7 Steele J Architecture for Islamic Societies Today {ST Martin press, USA, 1994}

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