TheGallery at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) in collaboration with the university’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) present ‘Zaha Hadid Architects: Evolution’, an exhibition exploring how the studio has evolved its design processes over the past thirty years to create some of the world’s most distinctive and creative buildings.
Showcasing the complete design archive of an early ZHA building – the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, USA – alongside current projects using digital design processes such as virtual reality and parametric design, the exhibition outlines ZHA’s remarkable journey from analogue to digital methods.
ZHCODE_Arum_Installation for Venice Biennale 2012_Folded Paper Model (2)
Each of the practice’s innovative projects builds on over thirty years of exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design. The exhibition details the clear progression of ZHA’s work: from Zaha Hadid’s early deconstructivist beginnings to the fluidity of current designs that are presented in 3D printed form.
Through handmade models, sketches, drawings, computer renders, animations, paintings, 3D printed models, prototypes and videos, the exhibition offers an insight into the different media that have played a key role in developing and designing projects throughout ZHA’s history.
AUB Modelmaking degree students’ coursework has also been specifically tailored to develop models for this exhibition. Exploring presentation techniques in different media, students have created models displayed in the lower gallery that demonstrate how decisions about materiality, scale, composition, and proportion affect perception of architectural works.
Zaha Hadid Architects – 950 projects. 44 countries. 400 staff. 55 nations.
Zaha Hadid Architects is a British international architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid, with its main office situated in London. They work at all scales and in all sectors, creating transformative cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces that work in synchronicity with their surroundings.
Projects have included
Meet The Curators
Dr. Christian McLening – Dr. Christian McLening is the Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the Arts University Bournemouth. He studied automotive industrial design at Coventry University and has a design MA degree from Central Saint Martin’s College, the Arts University London. Originally trained as an industrial designer, Christian has also professional practiced automotive, product and architectural design. He is a Chartered Technological Product Designer with the Institution of Engineering Designers.
Christian holds a PhD from Brunel University London, specialising in the creative design process within the architectural field. He also has a research interest in industrial design and design methodology as well as being a specialist in sustainable materials. Having supervised the work of Dr Jonathan Burgess, he assisted in the development of a new sustainable bio-plastic and plywood composite material used in a prototype vehicle powered with a hydrogen fuel cell. He is currently supervising a number of PhD students in the area of materials and architectural design.
Design education and the value of cross disciplinary working are some of Christian’s passions, as his has developed a number of new design courses with a practice based student centred curriculum. He embraces the Maker Culture community which is at the very heart of the Arts University Bournemouth. Read More
Woody Yao – Associate Director ZHA
Woody Yao – Woody Yao (AA Dip) is Director of Zaha Hadid Design and an Associate Director of Zaha Hadid Associates. He completed his schooling in Hong Kong, and Merchiston Castle, Edinburgh, before graduating from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, in London. During his time at the AA, Woody completed a number of private commissions, and contributed to large-scale projects with YRM London.
Since joining Zaha Hadid Architects in 1994, Woody has worked on a number of winning competition designs including Cardiff Bay Opera House, The Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art Cincinnati, MAXXI Rome and the Changsha Meixihu International Culture & Arts Centre. During this time Woody has also designed, managed, and delivered a number of key architectural projects including the Spitellau Viaducts Housing Project in Vienna, Hotel Puerta America Madrid, Guangzhou Opera House, ROCA London Gallery and the Jockey Club Innovation Tower at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Instrumental in the development of the Archive and the growth of the Exhibitions program, he currently curates several shows a year and leads his team in design and execution. These exhibitions have been featured in some of the most distinguished cultural institutions worldwide, including key retrospectives such as ‘Zaha Hadid Architektur’ at MAK [Vienna, 2003], ‘Zaha Hadid: 30 Years of Architecture’ at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum [New York, 2006], ‘Zaha Hadid Architecture & Design’ at the Design Museum, [London 2007], ‘Zaha Hadid at the State Hermitage Museum’ [St Petersburg, 2015], ‘Zaha Hadid Early Paintings and Drawings’ at The Serpentine Gallery [London 2016/2017], ArtisTree [Hong Kong 2017], and ‘Zaha Hadid – Made in Italy’ at MAXXI [Rome 2017/18].
Woody has been a key contributor on a number of design collaborations with leading brands such as Sawaya & Moroni, Lacoste, Cassina, Poltrona Frau, Swarovski, Georg Jensen, Lasvit, and Olivari. Read More
About Zaha Hadid Architects
Working with clients that have global reputations for excellence, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is developing transformational projects across six continents. Based in London for 40 years, ZHA has redefined architecture for the 21st century with a repertoire of projects that have captured imaginations across the globe. Form and space are woven within the structure of buildings that evolve from their surroundings and tie disparate programmes together. Enticingly contextual, each project combines an unwavering optimism for the future with concepts of connectivity and integration.
Zaha Hadid. Image courtesy of Vitra.
Receiving the highest honours from civic, professional and academic institutions worldwide, ZHA is one of the world’s most consistently inventive architectural studios and has been for four decades. Employing advancements in design, material and construction technologies, ZHA is a global leader in the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the design, construction and operations of buildings to increase efficiencies as well as significantly reduce energy consumption and emissions.
Marrying innovative digital design with ecologically sound materials and sustainable construction practices, ZHA does not look at the disparate parts, but works to understand them as a whole; delivering practical solutions to the defining challenges of our era. Each project by ZHA is the very specific assimilation of its unique context, local culture, programmatic requirements and intelligent engineering enabling the architecture and surrounding urban fabric to seamlessly combine, in both formal strategy and spatial experience.
Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects. © Helene Binet
In over 50 award-winning projects around the world, ZHA’s architecture becomes more refined spatially, more efficient structurally, more polished materially, more advanced technologically and generally more resolved with each new design. Their clients commission buildings, and ZHA meets the programmes, but ZHA also reads between the lines to exceed each brief and consistently deliver the shared aspirations of a new generation.
Collaborating with visionary clients, communities and industry experts on over 60 on-going projects in 28 countries, ZHA’s hugely talented and dedicated teams of experienced professionals work with passion and commitment to honour Zaha Hadid’s legacy and deliver outstanding projects across the globe.
ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS: EVOLUTION PUBLICATION
Building on TheGallery’s text + work philosophy, this publication moves beyond the conventional exhibition catalogue format, and represents a piece of original research that adds a much greater depth of analysis than would normally be used to contextualise an exhibition. The extended essay Zaha Hadid Architects: Instruments of Vision, Partners in Design by Dr. Christian McLening and David Lund takes a deeper look at the evolution of process at Zaha Hadid Architects over the past forty years, charting the practice’s journey from analogue to digital methods.
This publication will be available to purchase from TheGallery Office and the AUB online store from 15 February.
Zaha Hadid Architects: Evolution
Curated by Dr. Christian McLening and Woody Yao
15 February – 19 April 2018
TheGallery, Arts University Bournemouth
For more information visit THEGALLERY
Article and images via Zaha Hadid Architects