Zaha Hadid

London-based architect and designer Zaha Hadid discusses her acclaimed work, which includes Cincinnati's new Contemporary Arts Center, hailed by Herbert Muschamp of the New York Times as "the most important American building...since the end of the cold war." Hadid is also one of the artists featured in the Tea and Coffee Towers exhibition. Born in Baghdad, Zaha Hadid studied at the Architectural Association in London. Following her architectural training, she became a member of the Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture, where she worked with such notable architects as Rem Koolhaas, and later established her own practice in London. Hadid bases her designs on her own paintings and drawings, which have been shown internationally and are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Deutsches Architektur Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. One of her product designs—a striking coffee and tea set—is on view in the current exhibition Tea and Coffee Towers.

The DeeDee and Herb Glimcher Program Fund of the Wexner Center was created through the generosity of the Glimcher family in order to provide lasting opportunities for Wexner Center patrons to further enhance their understanding of the art and architecture of our time. The Glimcher fund supports an annual lecture by a distinguished speaker. The center deeply appreciates the Glimchers' longtime commitment to the cultural vitality of this community. Their generous engagement with the Wexner Center and the university is sure to have a profound and lasting impact throughout Columbus and the region.