Capital Hill residence, is a one of its kind project designed by Zaha Hadid Architects for Russian finance magnate Vladislav Doronin. The residence is located in Moscow and the interesting part is that it will be a wedding gift to his diva future bride Naomi Campbell!
Dame Zaha Hadid, 62, the very first female winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and one of the most accomplished architects on earth, has now been announced as the “Woman of the Year 2012” by Glamour Magazine, a magazine centered around fashion, beauty, & celebrity news.
From Glamour magazine:
Part of the problem? She was a woman in a man’s job—Hadid still thinks that’s a reason she lost out on early commissions. But she kept her studio alive with teaching, interiors projects, and furniture design. In 1993 she got her break: She was commissioned to build a fire station in Germany. Then an art center in Cincinnati. And finally more and more buildings in capital cities all over the world, including this year’s aquatic center for the London Olympics, lauded for its epic, sweeping design and deemed by one critic to be the 2012 Games’ “most majestic space.”
What sets her structures apart is their grace. Her inspiration: “Rivers, dunes,” she says, “the fluid landscape of the Middle East.” Her friend and 2007 Woman of the Year Donna Karan, for whom she designed a perfume bottle, says, “Whatever the medium, Zaha imparts lyricism and sensuality.”
Hadid is working on 43 buildings with her 360-person studio. “What haven’t I done yet?” Hadid asks. “A skyscraper in New York and,” she adds, not kidding at all, “a house of my own!”
Zaha Hadid is a Woman of the Year because… “She’s an extraordinary force of nature that came out of the blue and whacked us all on the back of the head and said, ‘Wake up, kids, there’s more stuff to do.’ ” —architect Frank Gehry
For more details check out Glamour Magazine
The former trade fair area of Milan (Fiera di Milano) comprising 255,000 square meters was the subject of an architectural competition in 2004 for a residential and commercial project. City Life won the competition with designs by Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and Pier Paolo Maggiora.
The complexity and the scale of the work involved in the re-qualification of the former Milan trade fair area led the partners of CityLife to commission the design of the project to a group of architects rather than a single designer. The choice fell Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind, architects of different origin, culture and background, but who share the distinction of having gained extensive experience by working on some of the most advanced expressions of international architectural culture of recent years.
CityLife is the result of the combined efforts of this group of architects, along with contributions from an array of other professionals and consultants who have ensured the project’s structural, plant design, environmental, urban planning and economic sustainability.
“I believe in the power of women. As nurturers, we have a unique ability to care and share and make the world a better place. Women Who Inspire are women who are making a difference. This website gives their inspiring messages an interactive forum, encouraging women everywhere to take action and get involved.” – Donna Karan
Donna Karan has continuously emphasized her faith in women and what they could accomplish for the world on various levels. For her latest scent, Donna Karan Woman, she collaborated with one of architecture's leading icons and Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid, to design the bottle.
The bottle itself is made of ombre charcoal glass, about which Hadid says, “The bottle’s dark, translucent qualities offer a sense of mystery that awakens our curiosity.”
I am personally a big fan of Donna's Cashmere Mist, I can't wait to try this one as well. Below are more images pertaining to the campaign and bottle itself.
Back on the architectural front is the news of Zaha Hadid's Vortex chandelier which was introduced in 2005 as a collaboration with Patrik Schmacher for Sawaya & Moroni. In 2007 the price was estimated as $200,000.
The Chandelier’s Opaque surface etches two transparent acrylic light spirals and a recessed LED light strip provides animated and programmable light sensations. Its complex curvilinearity follows a double helix connecting its beginning to its end and therefore forming an endless ribbon of light. In plan the object resembles a star with its protrusions pointing outwards from the center, emphasizing an imaginary centrifugal force.
This 2 m high 1.5 m wide light corpus is made up of over 60 individual mouldings that fit together seamlessly in a 12 m long string. The chandelier can be attached flush to the ceiling thanks to a special suspension assembly. Its high-gloss fibreglass-reinforced polyester surface has a precise-fitting translucent acrylic glass cover to ensure uniform light distribution and optimum colour mixing. Precise colour matching enables the very latest generation of LED modules to generate indirect light in various hues. When used in combination with Zumtobel’s lighting management system, an infinite variety of lighting scenes can be controlled and programmed.
The concept was first mentioned in 2005 during Milano fair of that year.
