A lot of people touched my life but who I am today and who I want to be tomorrow, Zaha Hadid is the primary influence on its definition. Frank Gehry described Zaha Hadid as “an extraordinary force of nature”, while Donna Karan praised her”female sensibility” and “goddess’s touch”. The world is becoming darker and the moment I heard you left so unexpectedly, I felt I lost hope, goals, vision at once. I have too many words to share and it is one of those cliche times when they would not suffice. I could not put a full stop to my words but had an initial reflection at lunch in front of your NYC building and paid my respects one last time. I dreamt many more sculptures by you, cities decorated with your energy, people inspired by your spaces, furniture, clothing, cutlery, vision. I just loved and will love every shade of grey she designed in your all black and white world.
You really have to have a goal. The goal posts might shift, but you should have a goal. Know what it is you want to find out. -Zaha Hadid
It is so common to start grand impersonal sentences with there was a man…if he would… since I first acquainted myself with Zaha Hadid, there was always a woman, a she if I had to choose between a he/she. She was the lady who touched the feminist in me. I admit that she was my goal. What a small goal some would say- she was not my only goal but she was one, she would still be plenty.
The paintings have only ever been ways of exploring architecture. I don’t see them as art.-Zaha Hadid
She introduced me to design, she proved to me that like in life, anything is possible in the profession of architecture if you are patient, stubborn, and persuasive. I dream a lot and I always think even more. There is so much to think about. She gave me so many things to think and dream about. A trip to one of Zaha Hadid’s buildings can challenge the extends of your dreams and the capacity of capacities of mankind. She was my inspiration when I put together my first ever physical model in art studio back in 2005. Deniz Orkus persuaded me that architecture was the profession for me after seeing it. I had traced her line drawings all the way to her days in design school, to the years when she patiently waited for technology to catch up with her vision so her buildings can be built.
Architecture is how the person places herself in the space. Fashion is about how you place the object on the person. -Zaha Hadid
She reminded me of the value of architecture… Imagine, you are designing habitable sculptures and the resources are not yet there to construct it. What a courage, a vision, an ambition. am talking about 1980s when her complex curvilinear geometries were left unrealized until in Berlin finally they built the IBA Housing and the Vitra Fire Station. I am talking about 2000s when I was in the studio at UC Berkeley teaching myself how to make her bas-relief masterpieces (when viewing below please be reminded that these pieces are models created using a single sheet of paper). I am talking about the day I visited her first work in the continental USA, which happened to be in New York City, during its construction phase and convinced the site manager when I showed up with my own hard hat and showed him my design work inspired by her.
Would they call me a diva if I were a guy? -Zaha Hadid
She reminded me that people will always have a prejudiced perception for one reason or another. Sexism today, racism tomorrow, jealousy everyday. I am talking about almost everyday when I find myself referred to as a nutcase,a diva, a “bitch,” and I think in my head, she did say this would happen when you are successful. They will blame it on what you did when you were 10, it is perception it is relative. Success in this case is also relative- my success so far revolves around the honors I earned as a student, honorable schools I attended, the company I started working for. Yet, believe it or not, men in this world, even those you call family and friends can let you down. The funny part is they would think they succeed in hiding it. Meditate on the small successes you have and plan for your next one.
You have to really believe not only in yourself; you have to believe that the world is actually worth your sacrifices. -Zaha Hadid
She convinced me of the worth of my sacrifices… She sacrificed a lot- including her health but nothing valuable comes without sacrifice. She was beyond an idol, a starchitect, the one and only female winner of the Pritzker Prize. I never understood men who would not know of her or ever heard of her. Of course, still at this millennial era, I recognize the unfortunate yet ongoing fight and need for the primitive- food, shelter, clean water, education. Not all of the mankind has a chance to explore beauties like Zaha Hadid. I feel honored to get a chance to idolize this woman and I regret the time when I got a chance to know her in person and did not take it. I made a plan to meet her for the first time when I could impress her with my technical design skills as I would with my personality and an already quite nicely developed sense of design and vision.
I will always have two regrets. I don’t have a presence in London, and I would have liked to have done more work in the Middle East.-Zaha Hadid
I am quite sensitive to politics, because you know, as an Arab, an Iraqi, all your life, you are very conscious of it.-Zaha Hadid
I really love Miami, but I don’t think the architecture matches the city. It’s a bit too commercial.-Zaha Hadid
She passed away where she said she loved and agreed with me that Miami needs a do-over to engage with its own energy…
One of the things I feel confident in saying we can do is bring some excitement, and challenges, to people’s lives. We want them to be able to embrace the unexpected. -Zaha Hadid
Now, when she is leaving unexpectedly, she reminds me first, to be confident, and also that it is fine to be unexpected and have goals to create unexpected for people who are afraid to do it themselves… This is yet another wake up call to me and as I am sure to thousands of your clients, students and acquaintances, that we shall all continue or start to pursue our goals, set new goals, and ultimately leave an honorable trace that women like me would not want to put a full stop to write about. I will conclude my remarks momentarily as I need to go back to “saving the world” but I will continue to reflect more and back on this sorrowful moment.
P. O. P. 