Dame Zaha Hadid, DBE RA (1950-2016) was an Iraqi-British architect. She was the first woman to recieve the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004. She recieved the UK’s most prestigious award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Elizabeth II for services to architecture, and in 2015 she became the first and only woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Metal from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
She was described by The Guardian as the “Queen of the curve”, who “liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity.”
