Dame Zaha Hadid Dies Suddenly at Age of 65
World renowned architect's buildings include Roca London Gallery in Imperial Wharf
World renowned architect Zaha Hadid, whose buildings include the Roca London Gallery in Imperial Wharf, one of Fulham's most distinctive buildings, has died suddenly at the age of 65.
The Gallery released a statement today, Thursday March 31, saying: " Roca is extremely saddened to hear of the untimely death of Dame Zaha Hadid DBE. Zaha Hadid Architects were commissioned to design the Roca London Gallery which opened in London’s Imperial Wharf in 2011. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues at this time."
Her practice, Zaha Hadid Architects, released a statement headed Zada Hadid 1950 - 2016, saying: " It is with great sadness that Zaha Hadid Architects have confirmed that Dame Zaha Hadid, DBE died suddenly in Miami in the early hours of this morning. She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital.
" Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today. Born in Baghdad in 1950, she studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before starting her architectural journey in 1972 at the Architectural Association in London.
" By 1979 she had established her own practice in London – Zaha Hadid Architects – garnering a reputation across the world for her ground-breaking theoretical works including The Peak in Hong Kong (1983), the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin (1986) and the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales (1994).
" Working with office partner Patrik Schumacher, her interest was in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology; which her practice integrates with the use of innovative technologies often resulting in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms."
You can read the statement in full here.
On the gallery's website, Roca says: " Roca London Gallery is a new brand experience proposal which gives you an insight into the world of Roca’s bathroom spaces. This innovative space allows visitors to experiment and discover the bathroom world, including everything from product design to the importance of water to society.
" The concept for the Roca London Gallery begins with water in its many forms and phases as both an idea to make space and to express our adaptability and openness to change and innovation.
" Water acts as a theme for the architecture theme, connecting all aspects of the Gallery.
The displays and the areas around each display have been shaped by the movement of water. Water has created a changeable space, one which people will continue to return to.
" Zaha Hadid Architects incorporate Roca’s established history and culture of innovation into the experience of the space. Rather than create a fixed gallery solely for products, Zaha Hadid has developed a flexible space for Roca, where displays, a meeting room, café bar, library, multi-media wall, reception and video screens are dispersed so visitors feel they are in an active design centre; a research hub that is much more than just a showroom."
Roca London Gallery, at
Station Court, Townmead Road in Fulham is open to the public on
Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5:30pm and
Saturdays from 11am. to 5pm, with an extended opening until 8pm on the last Tuesday
of every month.
Admission is free.
A free exhibition by architect Anupama Kundoo called High-Speed Housing opens at the gallery today, March 31 and runs till June 18. You can read more about this exhibition here.
You can contact Roca London Gallery on 0207 610 9503 or email info.londongallery@roca.net.
March 31, 2016
