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

Internationally renowned Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, whose designs included Hong Kong’s Innovation Tower and Beijing’s Galaxy SoHo, has died aged 65.

Born and raised in Baghdad, Hadid studied in Beirut and London, where she based the architectural firm that bore her name.

She designed buildings around the world, including the Innovation Tower at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University in Hung Hom, and Beijing’s Galaxy SoHo.

She also designed the stadium for Tokyo Olympics but it caused a huge controversy in Japan, and her design was eventually abolished.

Her successful designs included the London Aquatics Centre used in the 2012 summer Olympics; a BMW facility in Leipzig, Germany; sleek funicular railway stations in Innsbruck, Austria; and the strikingly curved Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan.

She twice won Britain’s Stirling Prize for architecture and in 2004 became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, known as the “Nobel prize of architecture.”