Zaha Hadid’s Private Home is For Sale and Why I Even Care

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I love buildings. There is something about beautifully constructed spaces that is just too profound for words. It reaches down into my soul and pulls something out. Something beautiful. I am not an architect, or even an architecture aficionado, but I love Zaha Hadid.

All over the world, from the London Aquatics Centre, to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park in South Korea and (my personal favourite) the Guangzhou Opera House, Zaha Hadid left her mark. She left an indelible mark in the landscape of time. The Iraqi-born British woman designed from somewhere deep inside, and her designs were so powerful, they moved people to tears. Well, they moved me to tears at any rate.

 

 

Word Architecture?

Did I mention that I’m not an architect? I’m not, really. But in a way I guess I could call myself one; an architect of words. You can call me a writer if you want to be mundane about it, but I think I will stick with word architect. I understand what it means to design a world that only you can see, and then bring it to life in a way that it speaks to all that is noble and passionate in the reader. It’s how I have always wanted to write. It’s what happens each time I see any of Ms Hadid’s buildings.

 

 

Building the Unbuildable

What does all this have to do with her private residence being for sale, I hear you ask? Stay with me a moment, I’m going somewhere with this. As a professional, Ms Hadid encompassed much of what I dream of becoming, and more. To her, there was no such thing as the proverbial ‘glass ceiling’, and that’s not to say it does not exist, but she just ceased to see it. She got to the peak of her career and then surpassed it. I think she is one person that knew, to some extent, what tomorrow would look like. I have heard somewhere, I can’t remember where now, that if you want to succeed in business (and anything else I suppose), you need to be futuristic in the way you think. One only needs to take a single glance at her buildings to know that she was futuristic in her thinking. 20 years from today, I strongly believe that her buildings will still look as trendy and edgy as they do today. Then again, this is more than just belief speaking; the MAXXI Museum, one of her iconic works was built in 1998-2000. That was almost 20 years ago and it is still a testament to the architect who could build the unbuildable.

 

 

Zaha Hadid’s Private Shrine Residence

Sadly, Zaha Haidid died last year at the age of 65. So young and yet, when you think of all she achieved it seemed as though she lived a hundred years. And now her private residence is for sale. The thought of that gives me goose bumps; the good kind. If you hadn’t guessed yet, I could probably be a poster girl for the Cult of Zaha Hadid (in my mind at least).

The thought of seeing, living in the home where this wonderful woman lived and created and breathed fills me with excitement. Yes, she lived in the UK and the house for sale is her home in the US. I know that, but we don’t have to focus on the details right now.

 

 

Ms Hadid inspired a generation of architects (and women). She did not just draw buildings that appeared impractical and unbuildable, she went ahead and built them, defying gravity in the process. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from her, it’s not to let myself be bound by what is ‘possible’. She lived the famous Walt Disney saying “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

Zaha Hadid dreamt it. Did it. And lived it. And her buildings (including her private residence) are testament to that.

I love buildings, and I especially love the world of unforeseen and untold opportunities represented by Ms Hadid’s buildings.