Zaha Hadid Dies in Miami Hospital Aged 65

Renowned architect Zaha Hadid has died at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack.

Zaha Hadid died following a heart attack on March 31 in a Miami hospital, where she was being treated for bronchitis.

The Iraqi-born architect was the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) Gold Medal in recognition of her work.

Her designs have been commissioned around the world, including Hong Kong, Germany and Azerbaijan.

Collecting her Gold Medal in February, Dame Zaha Hadid said she was proud to have been the first woman to win in her own right.

Zaha Hadid’s other creations include the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, the Riverside Museum at Glasgow’s Museum of Transport, and Guangzhou Opera House in China.

She twice won the Riba Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architecture award.

In 2010, Zaha Hadid won for the Maxxi Museum in Rome, winning again in 2011 for the Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton.

Born in Baghad, Zaha Hadid studied maths at the American University of Beirut – where she later designed a building on campus which was completed in 2014 – before embarking on her career at the Architectural Association in London.

In 1979, she set up her own company – Zaha Hadid Architects.

Zaha Hadid’s first major commission to be constructed was the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein in Germany.

The striking London Acquatics Centre in Stratford, which resembles a wave, features two 50-metre pools and a diving pool. After being used for the Olympics and Paralympics it was opened to the public in 2014.

Zaha Hadid also designed one of the stadiums that will take centre stage at the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

In 2015, however, the Japanese government scrapped plans to build the futuristic-looking stadium Zaha Hadid designed for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, opting instead for a scaled-down, less costly design.