Architect Zaha Hadid Dies at 65

Photo by Forgemind ArchiMedia on Flickr/Creative Commons

Zaha Hadid, one of the world’s most renowned architects, passed away early Thursday morning.

Hadid had contracted bronchitis earlier in the week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in a Miami hospital, according to a statement from Zaha Hadid Architects.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950, Hadid was the first woman to win the prestigious Prtizker Architecture Prize. More recently, she was awarded the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects—again the first woman to receive the honor.

She’s designed world-famous curvy constructions like the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 London Summer Olympics, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, the Riverside Museum in Scotland, and many more.

Hadid has taught at a number of colleges and universities around the world, including a position as the Kenzo Tange Chair at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

First reported by the BBC, you can read the full story here.

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum photo via Wikimedia/Creative Commons