Visions of London’s future by the late, great architect
Following her untimely death in 2016, this is the first exhibition that explores Zaha Hadid’s vast archive and legacy.
The exhibition steps back to her very early ideas, explaining a concept such as a hotel on the Hungerford bridge, or another design that was supposed to rival the doomed garden bridge. Other plans are a bit more grand and abstract, and while it may be difficult to envisage what this London of the future would have looked like, the output of her vision are some truly stunning paintings.
It seems that Hadid turned away from London in later years, as there is very little on display from her more recent career, other than a model of the Olympics Aquatics Centre, one of only four projects that were realised in the capital.
But one of the funniest bits in this small exhibition is a page from her student notebook, where she complains how boring and pointless the lecture she is attending is. Architecture students across the country will undoubtedly feel her pain.
Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London is at the Zaha Hadid Foundation, Clerkenwell, London EC1 until 2 July 2022
