Zaha Hadid, born 1950 in Bagdad. 1972-1977 studied at the renowned Architectural Association (AA) in London. Soon after, she became a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and taught at the AA with her OMA colleagues Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis. Since 1979, she has also headed her own architectural firm, and until 1987 she had her own studio at the AA. From then on, she has held the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and the Sullivan Chair at the Chicago School of Architecture. Since the fall semester 2000/01, she has also taught architectural design at the Universität für angewandte Kunst in Vienna. Her first large-scale international success was in 1983, when she won first prize in the competition for the project The Peak in Hong Kong. Her first large-scale realized project, which also gained her international fame, was the Vitra fire engine house at Weil am Rhein, finished in 1993.

Exhibition schedule: MAK, Vienna, May 14 - August 17, 2003

"Easily the most visually sumptuous architecture show to be seen anywhere in years ... Those who can't make it to the Vienna show this summer are advised to get hold of its catalog." The New York Times

This richly illustrated volume offers a comprehensive overview of the work of the renowned Iraqi architect-from her earliest works realized in 1979 to her most recent projects. An impressive look at the possibilities of architecture on the borderline between the possible and the impossible.

Zaha Hadid: Architecture is published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at the MAK in Vienna. This is the first book to document the artist´s newest projects and also presents an extensive overview of her oeuvre. One of the most renowned exponents of contemporary architecture, Zaha Hadid has always been in search of a visionary aesthetics covering all areas from urban planning to interior and furniture design.

This publication contains numerous color illustrations of designs, models, and-as yet mostly unpublished-Major Paintings by Hadid, as well as photographs of buildings already built and still under construction, granting insights into all stages of project development from the abstract concept to its technical implementation. The texts by architecture critic Andreas Ruby and Patrik Schuhmacher, project partner at Zaha Hadid Architects, London, are integral parts of the book and shed profound light onto the architect´s oeuvre.

Another special feature is the documentation of the installation Ice-Storm especially developed for the MAK exhibition, a "space experiment" with a surface area of three hundred square meters, providing the audience with a possibility for an active approach to Hadid´s radically new language of form and space.