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Olga Wong

“It all started here.”
This was how Zaha Hadid began the introduction to her design for the Innovation Tower on the city’s Polytechnic University campus back in 2014.
The groundbreaking Iraqi-British architect, who died of a sudden heart attack in Miami on Thursday, associated her success with Hong Kong.
Zaha Hadid: internationally renowned Iraqi-British architect dies aged 65
“Few believed what she drew on paper could be transformed into reality,” said Hong Kong Institute of Architects president Vincent Ng Wing-shun, Hadid’s local partner in the innovation tower project.
This is probably why her creative design for a leisure club on The Peak in Hong Kong never came to fruition, despite the fact that it had won the international design competition back in 1983.

“In fact, her first design was only realised in Vitra, Germany in 1993, 10 years after she had become famous. It was a fire station in an angular shape,” Ng said.
Ng, who entered two other international competitions with Hadid, said it was the Peak design competition that made Hadid well-known worldwide.
“A judge for the competition recalled years later that he didn’t know whether Hadid was a man or a woman. But he was impressed by her work,” Ng said.
“That’s why, according to Hadid’s staff, she always wanted to return to Hong Kong to build a signature of her own,” he added.
Her design for the leisure club, which has been called “deconstructivist”, proposed excavating the hills to form a site and using the excavated rock to build artificial cliffs. It was said to be “seemingly defiant of gravity”.
Vincent Ng Wing-shun: the architect bidding to save Hong Kong’s historic buildings
In 2004, Hadid became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the highest honour for architects.
And while some have criticised her conscious creation of visually intrusive structures across the globe, Ng said her innovations and non-compromising attitude were an inspiration for Hong Kong architects, adding that government bureaucracy was a reason for the city being filled with “boring architecture”.
“In many cases, land owners and architects will compromise in face of the rigid building rules. That’s why they often come up with an alternative design as a back up,” he said.
“But for Zaha Hadid, she doesn’t allow Plan B.”

Ng said the Innovation Tower, which exceeded the building height limit set by the Planning Department, would not have been completed without her persistence. The project team had to fight very hard to persuade building officials to approve its tilted structure and her signature flowing curves, in form of sun shading fins, because such designs could result in unpermitted extra floor areas.
In a related anecdote, a senior member of the Polytechnic University management asked Hadid, after she had introduced the Innovation Tower, how the building’s windows – partly covered with sun shading fins – should be cleaned. The question went unanswered.
“Her job is to invent, not to solve the problem. It somehow reflects the mentality of the city’s administration,” Ng said.
Architect Zaha Hadid says Japan demanding copyrights transfer of 2020 Olympics stadium design in exchange for payment
A more recent project by Hadid, the design for the main facility of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, was scrapped last summer as a result of spiralling construction costs. In this regard, Ng, who was tasked to revitalise the Central Market, had similar encounter. His plan was shelved last year after its cost of preservation tripled from HK$500 million to HK$1.5 billion.
Hadid was involved in 950 projects in 44 countries, including the Aquatics Centre in London, built for the 2012 Olympics.
Her signature buildings in Asia include the world’s largest international airport terminal, being planned in Beijing; the Guangzhou Opera House, which resembles “pebbles in a stream smoothed by erosion”; and Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza.

ZAHA HADID 1950-2016 pic.twitter.com/Ox1sTlGTlO
— Zaha Hadid (@ZHA_News) March 31, 2016

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

Ng said Hadid death was “too sudden”, and a great loss to the world.
“Her inventions and non-compromising attitude have created more room for architects in Hong Kong to pursue their dreams,” he said.
“She was a contemporary master, looking for breakthrough and advancement in every way,” Ng added.

How world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid influenced Hong Kong’s famous skyline

<p>Hong Kong Institute of Architects president Vincent Ng, who worked with the late Pritzker Prize winner, tells the <i>Post</i> how she was an inspiration to those in the city</p>

epa01267406 A general top view of a futuristic pavilion specially created by British Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid which is to be the venue for Chanel's 'Mobile Art' in Hong Kong, China, 26 February 2008. Mobile Art is a travelling exhibition devised as a three-dimensional film and presented in a futuristic pavilion, and is above all a new form of artistic expression, and unique experience, combining architecture, art, sound creation and fashion. Hong Kong will be the first of six international cities including Tokyo, New York, London, Moscow and Paris to exhibit the works of twenty international contemporary artists starting 27 February 2008. EPA/YM YIK EPA

Zaha Hadid died of a sudden heart attack in Miami on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

10 Zaha Hadid designs that made the world a better place    

Zaha Hadid 1950-2016

Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid 

Beijing New Airport Terminal by Zaha Hadid 

Guangzhou Opera House by Zaha Hadid 

Jockey Club Innovation Tower by Zaha Hadid 

London Aquatics Centre by Zaha Hadid 

DDP Seoul by Zaha Hadid 

Unique Circle Superyachts by Zaha Hadid 

Maxxi Museum by Zaha Hadid 

Aria Trasparente Chandelier by Zaha Hadid 

Messner Mountain Museum by Zaha Hadid 

News

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Institute of Architects president Vincent Ng, who worked with the late Pritzker Prize winner, tells the Post how she was an inspiration to those in the city


How world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid influenced Hong Kong’s famous skyline

.css-jfmysa{display:inline;word-break:break-word;}.css-1ankfgb{cursor:pointer;display:inline;word-break:break-word;}Zaha Hadid: internationally renowned Iraqi-British architect dies aged 65

Zaha Hadid: internationally renowned Iraqi-British architect dies aged 65