Zaha Hadid

The first woman to be awarded the distinguished Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004, Zaha Hadid is internationally known for projects that have literally "shifted the geometry of buildings." The Iraqi-born, London-based architect has collaborated with the Guggenheim on several projects leading up to this comprehensive retrospective, including the design for the museum's exhibition "The Great Utopia" in 1992. Each of Hadid's dynamic and innovative works builds on over 30 years of experimentation and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design. Hadid's most recent work incorporates smooth surfaces where walls seem to melt, floors curving upward, and ceilings that appear to compress, bend and expand. In her designs, architecture emerges not as an isolated object but out of the surrounding landscape and urban environment, and as a result of its users' movements and paths.