Pritzker-price winner and Architect Zaha Hadid dies suddenly at age 65

Sadly, today masterful architect Dame Zaha Hadid died suddenly from a heart attack, after being hospitalised with bronchitis in Miami where she was working on a new condominium project.

The British architect, born in Iraq in 1950, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth (thus "Dame", the female equivalent to "Sir") and also won a Pritzker price, architectur's equivalent to the Nobel price.

Three good pieces on Hadid you will find at the NYTimes, ArchDaily and Curbed.

To the many photos of her outstanding work if I find them(!) I may add a few of my own from her incredible Bergisel ski-jump in Innsbruck, Austria, as well as from her Nordpark railway stations in Innsbruck as well.

Wright House in Phoenix saved; Hadid to design Miami condo building

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy emailed Christmas cheer to their supporters yesterday: it has facilitated the purchase of the David and Gladys Wright House in Phoenix, Arizona, through an LLC owned by an anonymous benefactor.

The transaction closed on December 20 for an undisclosed price. The property will be transferred to an Arizona not-for-profit organization responsible for the restoration, maintenance and operation of the David Wright House.

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After renowned architect (“starchitect”?) Zaha Hadid joined other notables and made her imprint on Miami Beach with a municipal parking garage in the Collin’s Park area, she has been commissioned to design a residential tower in Miami, her first in the western hemisphere.

The project – no details available yet – will be located on 1000 Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, west of Bicentennial Park and the Bay and just south of MacArthur Causeway which connects Miami with Miami Beach.

Google street-view  shows currently a BP station at the site, right next to Miami Pawn. But surely the Hadid name will guarantee the developers of 1000 Biscayne Tower adequate pricing of the units.

Hadid, mentioned in this blog in the two-part post “Modern Architecture in the Alps”, is an Iraki living in London. Only recently she had lost an intense competition to design an office on 425 Park Avenue in New York City to Sir Norman Foster. An overview of her work is at arcspace.