World-renowned architect Dame Zaha Hadid passed away today at the age of 65. Hadid’s architectural firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, confirmed she died suddenly in Miami in the early hours of the morning.

She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital.

Dame Zaha Hadid

Hadid was widely regarded as arguably the greatest female architect in the world today. Born in Baghdad in 1950, she studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut and entered the architectural field in 1972 at the Architectural Association in London.

Notable projects designed by Hadid, many of which involve intricate applications of glass, include the:

–          Kurfürstendamm in Berlin (1986);

–          Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales (1994);

–          Vitra Fire Station in Weil Am Rhein, Germany (1993);

–          Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (2003);

–          MAXXI: Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome (2009);

–          Guangzhou Opera House in China (2010);

–          London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games (2011); and the

–          Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku (2013).

In 2004, Hadid became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She twice won the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the RIBA Stirling Prize. She was recently awarded the RIBA’s 2016 Royal Gold Medal, the first woman to do so.