Architect Explains | What makes Zaha Hadid Famous?

[@jdraven0890]

She was definitely from the era of "starchitects", who didn't give a damn about surrounding context, client budget, or the insane effort by technically proficient engineers of bringing her wild creations to life. Noting her along Frank Gehry is a very apt comparison.

[@BlueprintBlogger]

Starchitect is the exact terminology to describe her. Love her work or hate it, she left behind an interesting mark on the world.

[@jdraven0890]

@@BlueprintBlogger she did push boundaries and we need some people who are doing that I think my visceral reaction to her work is that it reminds me of architecture college where most instructors refused to teach us real world things like structure, code, and budget and told us to just go nuts and do basically art projects

[@BlueprintBlogger]

And you just know if we tried to present her projects in college we would be eaten alive by the critics 😂

[@msolemon]

Zaha Hadid was one of the best architecture engineers in the last 100 years and the only woman engineer to be so.

[@BlueprintBlogger]

I actually asked my colleague if she can name other female “starchitects” and we were surprised at how short that list actually is. If you have any suggestions for other female architects I could make a video about I’d much appreciate it!

[@davecahyo]

I adore her work, its so unique and astounding. But I have mixed feelings for architects who voluntarily worked with authoritarian regime like her, no matter how great their works are

[@BlueprintBlogger]

I feel you mate. Within my own personal professional experience I generally work for large developers and I have this moral conflict when designing projects. I ask myself, am I designing for my client or for the people who will inevitably live and use the building. I sometimes fear I wouldn’t get to design the projects I have without satisfying those who are willing and able to pay for it but then I question at what cost. I’m not sure what the answer is really..

[@emila6]

Alright, let's set the record straight. The working conditions in Qatar are a serious issue that is ultimately the responsibility of the Gulf governments. They are exploiting workers from third-world countries at the highest level (I've seen it firsthand with my dad). 2nd, the environmental issues with construction involved in China are inconsequential because once again these issues fall on the local governments and any failures to do so are met with crackdowns by the party. China in the present day is on the record as the only nation to merge green tech with industrial output and they have reversed many corruption issues that were affecting the environment. Ultimately an architect can't micromanage at the level of local ordinances with enforcement of labor laws and budget either because just about everything is routed through third parties

[@BlueprintBlogger]

I completely agree the responsibility for many of the issues typically addressed to Architects should actually be sent to local planners, government lawmakers and workers-unions to actually effect change and increase standards for workers / end users.

[@RADICALDESIGNOFFICIAL]

Criticising the government for the deaths is ridiculous, her buildings werent even commercially viable without a government with dodgy ethical practices. She would've just amounted to a concept artist and no more...

[@BlueprintBlogger]

Well to be fair, as noted in the video, nobody had died building her design at the time of the comments. Meanwhile workers were dying due to poor oversight by the government.

[@TonyDavisSaxophone]

You have to ask, were the deaths due to errors in the design, the working practices of the construction company, or the attitude towards health and safety of the site managers and individual workers? There's nothing in this film to identify the root cause issue. Sorry to say, it feels a little like mock journalism.

[@BlueprintBlogger]

Totally get that mate. There were multiple cause and effect for the deaths in Qatar but this little video wasn’t specifically about such issues. This series is intended to be an overview highlighting particular aspects of Architects careers. I’m certainly not a journalist. I’m simply an Architect.

[@TonyDavisSaxophone]

@@BlueprintBlogger Thank you for taking the time reply. The aspect of your piece that concerns me is its impact on the viewer, that Hadid should be blamed for the deaths personally, and further, to say that she didn't care. You only have to look at the way the migrant workers were treated by the government to see that the root-cause issue is most likely somewhere else.

[@BlueprintBlogger]

I fully agree, I tried to show the point that her comments were made long before any construction on her building and that her name was cleared in the defamation law suit.