British architect of Iraqi descent Hadid celebrates her 65th birthday

London/Prague - The British architect of Iraqi origin, Zaha Hadid, will celebrate her sixty-fifth birthday on October 31, the first woman to ever receive the most prestigious global award for architects - the Pritzker Prize. Born in Baghdad, she received the award in 2004 and became one of the youngest laureates of the award often referred to as the Nobel Prize for Architecture. In the Czech Republic, she is mainly known as a member of the jury that ultimately chose the unrealized design by architect Jan Kaplický for the new National Library building in Prague at Letná.
    Zaha Hadid was born into a liberal family in Baghdad; her father was an economist and businessman. "I never had a traditional Muslim upbringing," she recalled. She first studied mathematics at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, and from 1972 to 1977, she studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London, where she met other famous architects such as Alvin Boyarski, Rem Koolhaas, and Daniel Libeskind. She briefly worked at the OMA studio and established her own studio in London in 1980.
    For many years, Hadid was primarily known for her modernist projects that were highlighted as exceptional and dynamic, yet they seldom came to fruition. Some of her most famous realized works include a fire station in Weil am Rhein, Germany, a ski jump in Innsbruck, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, USA, the MAXXI Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, the London Olympic Aquatics Centre, the Guangzhou Opera House in China, and the Egyptian Pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
    Most recently, she won the competition for the design of the main stadium for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but the stadium will not be built according to her design. The Japanese government reduced the original budget for construction, and Hadid did not enter the new competition.
    A recipient of numerous awards, she has also taught at various prestigious schools and is involved in design, interiors, furniture, and scenography. She has also engaged in painting.