Remembering Zaha Hadid: a candid, whip-sharp and passionate creative force

“I started out wanting to create buildings that would sparkle like isolated jewels; now I want them to connect, to form a new ... landscape, to flow together with contemporary cities and the lives of other people,” Zaha Hadid once said.

I met the star architect, who has died aged 65, in Hong Kong in 2014, having been a serious fan for years of Hadid the mega personality, the radical aesthete, the female design titan – one whose creations embodied more than any other Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s description of architecture as “frozen music”.

In person, Hadid had a powerful presence. She was candid, whip-sharp and at times laconic. She spoke passionately about extending her creative force to design outside of architecture, and was obviously fascinated by working with materials in different scales, and how her buildings worked in so many different contexts.

As an architect, Hadid was a pioneer who was constantly asking us to re-evaluate our ideas of a cityscape and accept new and exciting ways of interacting with our environs. With 950 projects in 44 countries, she had a lasting impact on the world’s built environment, above all through her use of curves - seamless, formidable and feminine. But, though evidently proud of her accomplishments, Hadid seemed almost academic about them when we spoke.

In Asia alone, she created Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Innovation Tower, Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza (now epicentre of the city’s design and fashion scene) and the Guangzhou Opera House (in my opinion, easily the best building in that city), to name just a few. I felt that her appreciation of the cultural complexities facing developing countries shone through in the understanding she showed of China’s transformation, and her eagerness to be part of it.

On top of all this, the Iraqi-born, London-based Hadid, whether willingly or not, became a voice for fellow Arabs and women in the fields of design and architecture, not just because she represented both, but also because of her capacity to surprise and ability to smash through lazy stereotypes.