Zaha Hadid talked to Deser Island Discs. image courtesy of BBC

Zaha Hadid talked to Deser Island Discs, a BBC's radio programme, this time, Hadid gave some incisive details about her personal life, music taste, the methods of work, clients, Britain architecture, young architecture students, fashion and the role of women in architecture. 

''Architecture has a lot of to do power to elevate the culture, but I'm not interested in formalism of the building. When you think about, you can create great housing, great streets, concert halls, libraries and you can just add to the culture of place. My way is that If you design public buildings-but not everybody has that luxury, I think it is very important to bring these kinds of magic moments, which you will find through landscapes, buildings or looking at something amazing to your local. So, people can take a bus-ride or train-ride to go any spaces.'' Zaha said. 

Cathy Drysdale, the interviewer, asked that 'when you are looking at buildings (not your own buildings) other's peoples buildings or architecture what is it really excites you about architecture?'

Zaha said that I think there is a lot of great stuff and of course at the same a lot of rubbish. If you talk about historically, if you go to Rome, and all the Renaissance is amazing stuff, you can also go to North America and see Mies and Corbu, Frank Gehry, you know historically they are very exciting.

Zaha added that 'I think for me the most compelling thing is the spatial experience'. In conversation, Zaha also talked about Britain architecture that creates 'a sense of worry' about contemporary architecture. Hadid said that 'all the current buildings being built are modernist between brackets but a particular modernism is very decently-strained and what we call 'rationalism' -the worry before was that you don't want to affect the historicist value but I think that the view changed and you know the whole work last 30 years was all about how you fit in not necesseraly knightly add to the existing context but how do you create the existing context some new geometries and ideas.'

''When I go home, I don't really relax, I'm relaxing with tv or music something. My home is very moleculer-loft, I'm living an economic completely white apartment, my kitchen is ugly because I'm living in my living room and I'm not one of those people who cooks and entertains at the same time, I don't like that.'

Upon the question of interviewer: 'Zaha is not practical while working with the client' and Zaha continued that 'I tried to accomodate them, I think it is very important people are spending money on these things and it is also very important to do something very good. I think 'as an architect, you need to know logic of engineering'.

Listen the full episode of the interview here.

> via bbc.co.uk