image © Zaha Hadid Architects

other images courtesy of  Leila Heller Gallery

‘Zaha Hadid’ exhibition at the Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai

18th January to 29th February 2016

‘Zaha Hadid’  at the Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai is a mid-career exhibition on the oeuvre of internationally renowned architect Dame Zaha Hadid. Spanning the breath of Hadid’s product designs from the early 80s - on the cusp of the architect’s emergence onto the global stage - to the 2015 Liquid Glacial Collection furniture range.

Zephyr Sofa, 2013, Designed for ZHD, Lacquered fiberglass solid body, fabric upholstery-28.74 x 125 x 118.11 in / 73 x 320 x 300 cm

From the MAXXI Museum in Rome to the London 2012 Olympic Aquatics Centre, from the Guangzhou Opera House to the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi, over the last 30 years Hadid has engaged with architecture as a form of landscape, transforming the hard-geometry of 20th century vertical aspirations into a site-specific horizontal reflection of multi-perspectival design, heralding a new era along the way. 

Moraine, 2003, Designed for Sawaya & Moroni, Pony Skin White, 29.53 x 47.24 x 133 in / 75 x 120 x 338 cm

For this exhibition, the hallmarks of these large scale architectural projects reveal themselves in the architect’s use of a new spatial paradigm in a variety of scales and a myriad of materials resulting in a multitude of forms that engage with interior, domestic, or personal space.

Z-Chair, 2011, Designed for Sawaya & Moroni, Stainless Steel, Polished, 24 x 34.65 x 36.22 in / 61 x 88 x 92 cm

On the occasion of this exhibition Hadid presents design work from over 30 collections, exemplifying her transition from the tectonic to the fluid architectural language of her recent projects.  The architect’s transposition of the vertical and horizontal can be seen in the angular Seoul Desk (2008), composed in high-gloss fiberglass.

Kuki Chair, 2013, Designed for Sawaya & Moroni, Polished Bronze, 40.94 x 28.35 x 39.76 in / 104 x 72 x 101 cm

Hadid’s ethic of environmental and physical inter-connectedness is exemplified in the Tau Vases (2015), whose pleats portray the formal complexity of natural growth systems. As the body of architecture transposes itself onto the architecture of the body, the intricate constructions of her jewellery collections present multi-faceted lattice pieces portraying the delicate, yet extremely strong, cellular structures within nature.

Liquid Glacial Stool, 2015, Designed for David Gill Gallery, Acrylic - Clear, 17.72 x 25.98 x 30.71 in / 45.01 x 65.99 x 78 cm

Hadid’s work in design presents the 21st century’s evolution towards the organic, as well as an exploration of scale, innovation, and materiality: from the wonderfully tactile natural forms in wood and stone, to the high-gloss industrial of innovative manufacturing and fabrication technologies.

Liquid Glacial Coffee Table, 2013, Designed for David Gill Gallery, Acrylic - Smoke,15.75 x 3.43 x 98.43 in / 40 x 8.71 x 250 cm

Liquid Glacial Table, 2015, Designed for David Gill Gallery, Acrylic - Clear, 293.31 x 102.36 x 63 in / 745 x 260 x 160 cm

Tau S Vase, 2015, Designed for Citco, Marble Statuario, 7.87 x 16.93 x 16.93 in / 20 x 43 x 43 cm

Quad L Table, 2015, Designed for Citco, Granite Nero Assoluto,10.63 x 59 x 59 in / 27 x 150 x 150 cm

Luna Table, 2014, Designed for Citco, Granite Nero Assoluto, 30.7 x 47.2 x 126 in / 78 x 120 x 320 cm

Silene Cuff II, 2015, Designed for The House of Aziz & Walid Mouzannar, 18 Karat Pink Gold, 4.33 in / 11 cm

Manifesto Vase, 2014, Designed for Lalique, Crystal with a Satin and Polished Finish, 46 in / 116.84 cm

> via zaha-hadid.com