The Zaha Hadid Foundation, a cultural foundation based in London that was founded by the late architect Dame Zaha Hadid, and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have established the Zaha Hadid Scholars Program at the AUB.

The program will honor Hadid's life and legacy as a well-known professor and her desire to help architecture students. 

The Zaha Hadid Scholars Program will fully fund and provide additional support to two architecture students for the five years of their undergraduate studies at the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at AUB starting in September 2025 and for each of the following three academic years. The pupils will be chosen on the basis of merit and need. 

"The visionary work of our alumna, Zaha Hadid, continues to inspire current generations of students," said AUB President Fadlo Khuri, MD.

"We are very proud to partner with the Zaha Hadid Foundation on this initiative benefiting bright and deserving architecture students at our university," Khuri added.

"We are thrilled to be able to honour Zaha’s commitment to emerging and future architectural talent by supporting these students and AUB, a university that was so close to Zaha’s heart. We hope this will be just the beginning of a deepening relationship," said the Board of Trustees of the Zaha Hadid Foundation.

The American University of Beirut awarded Zaha Hadid an honorary doctorate in 2006 after she studied mathematics there from 1968 to 1969. The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs Building at AUB, which she finished in 2014, is one of her projects. 

The Zaha Hadid Foundation is currently forming relationships with Serpentine Galleries, the Architectural Association, and other organizations in addition to creating its own programs; further information will be released soon.

In 2013, the internationally recognized architect, designer, and artist Dame Zaha Hadid established the Zaha Hadid Foundation (ZHF), a nonprofit organization. 

The founding goal of ZHF, which was fully established in 2022 and is housed in two buildings in London—10 Bowling Green and Shad Thames—is to preserve and make accessible to the public the entirety of Hadid's remarkable output. 

The foundation aims to promote study, education, and the appreciation of related fields of modern architecture, art, and design.

The top image in the article: Portrait of Dame Zaha Hadid. Image courtesy of Mary McCartney.

> via Zaha Hadid Foundation

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