DAME Zaha Hadid, the world-renowned architect, whose designs include the Glasgow's Riverside Museum, has died aged 65.
Dame Zaha, the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) Gold Medal in recognition of her work, passed away following a heart attack on Thursday in a Miami hospital, where she was being treated for bronchitis.
Dame Zaha's creations can be seen around the world and include the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, the Aquatics Centre constructed for the 2012 London Olympics, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, the Guangzhou Opera House in China and the Maxxi Museum in Rome.
File photo dated 03/11/06 of architect Dame Zaha Hadid at the opening of the fifth Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
She was made a dame in 2012 and has twice won the Riba Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architecture award. In 2010 she won for the Maxxi Museum, winning again in 2011 for the Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton.
Hadid was personally approved by the Queen for the Riba Gold Medal, an accolade whose previous recipients include Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry and Lord Norman Foster.
The London Aquatics Centre built for the 2012 Olympic Games
Culture minister, Ed Vaizey said he was “stunned” at the news and praising her “huge contribution to contemporary architecture”.
Her company said in a statement: “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.”
Jane Duncan, RIBA president the news as "absolutely terrible" adding that Dame Zaha was "an inspirational woman and the kind of architect one can only dream of being".
She added: "Visionary and highly experimental, her legacy despite her young age, is formidable. She leaves behind a body of work from buildings to furniture, footwear and cars, that delight and astound people all around the world.
"It was only last month that I had the enviable task of awarding Zaha the 2016 Royal Gold Medal for architecture – she was delighted to receive the recognition and adds the medal to an amazing collection of awards, not least winning the RIBA Stirling Prize two years running. The world of architecture has lost a star today.”
Born in Baghdad in 1950, the architect studied at the Architectural Association in London and established her own practice - Zaha Hadid Architects - in 1979. She went on to garner a worldwide reputation for her trail-blazing designs.
Dame Zaha's firm completed the Riverside Museum with its zig-zagging roof in 2011 and it went on to be named European Museum of the Year in 2013.
Sally Stewart, reader and deputy head at the Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh School of Architecture described Dame Zaha's death as "very shocking and unexpected", describing her as "one of the most significant architects of our time".
She said her would be remembered not only for the architecture she conceived of and aspired to produce, but also for her "sheer force of will in challenging the expectations of the architecture a woman might produce".
She added: "Elegant, impossible, often difficult, her work always provoked a response, and experiencing it at first hand was often surprising and rewarding.
"Perhaps more than anyone else today she has inspired more students to study architecture and to imagine design and architecture differently.
"Our wishes must be with her colleagues and family, with the hope that they will be able to continue to realise her ideas and consolidate her legacy.”
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