zaha@chicago

finally zaha hadid had a lecture at chicago's neocon this week. unfortunately she did not fly here due to a last minute client meeting but instead she had a videoconference with us. ok the whole videoconference thing between two of the most developed countries of this planet was a total mess: the line was interrupted several times and the image was frozen with zaha's face in weird poses every now and then. not to mention that everybody was laughing! although i 've heard some bad rumors for her rudeness etc, i have to say she was very patient with the whole process. i guess this is a hard task for a busy celebrity. she was also very funny. the videos she had included in her powerpoint did not play but whatever... you go to the lecture to feel the personality, not to learn about the projects! especially these big architects they are focusing in quantity of their work rather than showing their process... she was very excited though to show some of her models that she had handy in her office.

she presented her work in different scales and she showed even very early projects. the good thing was that you could have a holistic aspect on her work. the title [and content] of the lecture was "total fluidity".

at the end, one of the first [if not the first] question was from a student and was about the software used in the office. i have to say that people ask this question to every lecture i have been so far! the funny thing is that the answer is always the same.
another question was when she was asked what type of problems she faces from drawing to construction. i think she soothed the guy that was asking by sharing with us that all these years she did not build she had time to investigate these issues.

i really enjoyed the lecture and zaha.
although as i said she presented many projects, i want to spend some time on the dancing towers she will built in dubai's business bay where she won oma, morphosis and rur. we learnt more about this competition from rur's lecture in chicago. post is coming soon:

*lecture photo taken from a friend: thanks!
** dancing tower image taken from here