Zaha Hadid Architecture

NB: by "chicanery," I refer to Morocco's record of corruption and lack of oversight and enforcement of its laws, which could use reinforcement.

On nearly the eve of hosting the twenty second Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 22) in Marrakesh on November 7-18, 2016, the Moroccan government authorized a new group of constructions in the Bou Regreg River Valley. The constructions include a Zaha Hadid Ateliers designed theater, the Grand Théâtre de Rabat, in addition to luxury hotels, residences, a museum, and a park. The theater and park will join the Aga Khan award winning Zaha Hadid Ateliers Bridge to Salé, a city across the river and just north of the worksite. Signs around the construction state that the complex will add to the appeal of Rabat as a city of culture. The buildings are placed in what might be considered a floodplain with the same or similar characteristics of nearby Northern Moroccan Ramsar designated wetlands and classified National Parks and Reserves, some of the former of which are on the tentative list for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Status. The Zaha Hadid Ateliers construction is also placed in close proximity to sites with significant historical and cultural value recognized in the UNESCO classification documents for Rabat, among others. 

In the following paper, I present briefly the socio-environmental histories of the construction and adjacent sites in the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaër region and propose how accentuating certain aspects of the environment can be valuable additions to the contemporary Moroccan economy, specifically its two pillars of tourism and agricultural production and exports.

IASTE 2016 Online Program Poster: http://iaste.berkeley.edu/iaste/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2016/05/IASTE2016_Poster.pdf

RESUMO O artigo enfoca a conceituação da arquitetura enquanto experimentação projetual. Partindo desse objetivo, é proposto um recorte conceitual na tese de doutorado da primeira autora (orientada pelo segundo), a qual teve como objeto de estudo a leitura dos processos de projeto da arquiteta Zaha Hadid, a partir de referências de cunho experimental nas proposições espaciais, formais e programáticas, relativas ao projeto de arquitetura. A proposição de uma obra arquitetônica que se dispõe a explorar novas conceituações projetuais (tanto referentes a conceitos externos ao campo disciplinar da arquitetura, quanto de rupturas com modos de pensar a relação sujeito-espaço, paisagem-objeto, e outras que não se refletem apenas à pares conceituais), vem de encontro ao contexto emergente e, de maneira imediata, sincrônica e imprevista, revela a necessidade de questionar-se as fronteiras disciplinares que por muito tempo segmentaram campos do conhecimento em teoria e prática. Situada nesse entremeio de conceitos interdisciplinares, analisa-se a obra de Zaha Hadid e sua busca por novas formas expressivas que refletissem sobre a concepção do espaço em diferentes meios artísticos. Para a arquiteta, a pintura tornou-se campo exploratório de possibilidades generativas para a ideação arquitetural, notadamente a releitura de conceitos da arte suprematista de Kazimir Malevich, enfocando os aspectos conceituais formativos das transformações formais propostas em sua pintura. PALAVRAS-CHAVES: arquitetura contemporânea; processos de projeto; Zaha Hadid; interdisciplinaridade RESUMEN El artículo se centra en la conceptualización de la arquitectura como experimentación de un proyecto. A partir de este objetivo, se propone un corte conceptual en la tesis doctoral del primer autor (guiado por el segundo), que tuvo como objeto de estudio la lectura de los procesos de diseño de la arquitecta Zaha Hadid, a partir de referencias de carácter experimental en las proposiciones espaciales, formal y programática, relacionada con el diseño arquitectónico. La propuesta de una obra arquitectónica que esté dispuesta a explorar nuevos conceptos de diseño (tanto referidos a conceptos externos al campo disciplinar de la arquitectura, como rupturas con formas de pensar sobre la relación sujeto-espacio, paisaje-objeto, y otras que no solo se reflejan a pares conceptuales), se contrapone al contexto emergente y, de forma inmediata, sincrónica e inesperada, revela la necesidad de cuestionar los límites disciplinarios que durante mucho tiempo han segmentado los campos del conocimiento en teoría y práctica. Ubicada en medio de conceptos interdisciplinares, se analiza la obra de Zaha Hadid y su búsqueda de nuevas formas expresivas que reflexionaran sobre la concepción del espacio en diferentes medios artísticos. Para el arquitecto, la pintura se convirtió en un campo exploratorio de posibilidades generativas para la ideación arquitectónica, en particular la reinterpretación de conceptos del arte suprematista de Kazimir Malevich, centrándose en los aspectos formativos conceptuales de las transformaciones formales propuestas en su pintura. ABSTRACT The article focuses on the conceptualization of architecture as a project experimentation. Starting from this objective, a conceptual cut is proposed in the doctoral thesis of the first author (guided by the second), which had as its object of study the reading of the design processes of the architect Zaha Hadid, from references of experimental nature in the spatial propositions , formal and programmatic, related to architectural design. The proposition of an architectural work that is willing to explore new design concepts (both referring to concepts external to the disciplinary field of architecture, as well as ruptures with ways of thinking about the subject-space, landscape-object relationship, and others that are not reflected only to conceptual pairs), comes against the emerging context and, immediately, synchronously and unexpectedly, reveals the need to question the disciplinary boundaries that have long segmented fields of knowledge into theory and practice. Located in the midst of interdisciplinary concepts, Zaha Hadid's work and its search for new expressive forms that reflected on the conception of space in different artistic media are analyzed. For the architect, painting became an exploratory field of generative possibilities for architectural ideation, notably the reinterpretation of concepts of Kazimir Malevich's suprematist art, focusing on the conceptual formative aspects of the formal transformations proposed in her painting.

Ein Arbeitsschwerpunkt der Künstlerin/Fotografin Antje Hanebeck (*1968) ist die Auseinandersetzung mit Raum und Räumlichkeit, unter anderem mit zeitgenössischer Architektur. Ihre Schwarz-Weiß-Aufnahmen zeichnen sich durch eine besonders grafische Herangehensweise aus. Sie kreiert selbstständige und teilweise sehr abstrakte Kompositionen, die sich deutlich von dokumentarischen Architekturfotografien unterscheiden. Passend dazu verweisen die Titel der Arbeiten oftmals nicht direkt auf die aufgenommenen Bauwerke, sondern es werden kartografische Verweise integriert. Die Loslösung von der inhaltlichen Benennung fördert eine vielschichtigere Interpretation, während der Objektbezug durch die geografische Verortung erhalten bleibt. In Hanebecks Werk finden sich unter anderem Aufnahmen von Gebäuden der 2016 verstorbenen britisch-irakischen Architektin und ersten weiblichen Pritzker-Preisträgerin Zaha Hadid. So fotografierte sie 2003/04 den noch im Bau befindlichen Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg1 und 2013 den Chanel Mobile Art-Pavillon in Paris. Drei exemplarische Arbeiten des umfangreichen Projektes über den mobilen Baukörper werden im Folgenden in Zusammenhang mit der Bauskulptur Chanel Mobile Art genauer erläutert.