Updated by Paul Keskeys, 3rd April 2016. Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter.
The late Dame Zaha Hadid‘s extraordinary career encompassed so many creative disciplines, from architecture and furniture to the design of jewellery and shoes. Beyond this, her office has long been known for its innovative use of digital media to portray ideas, and this includes the consistent output of carefully composed, highly atmospheric “design trailers”.
Each project has a well-produced, inspiring video that explains and narrates the project. It is as close to vaporware architecture as we will get. Here are the 13 best Zaha videos — students, take note.
Video credit Methanoia
Fifth Hotel – City of Dreams
Swirl around the super-structure of this inverted and distorted ultra-luxury hotel in the Las Vegas of Asia.
Video credit Methanoia
King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center
This cell-based research center morphs from a leaf, even though its an oil research lab.
Video credit MIR
Sleuk Rith Institute Cambodia
A serene space of the history of Cambodia and the education of its future leaders.
Mathematics Gallery at the Science Museum London
Not poetry in motion — math in motion. See the forms of this math gallery slip and slide in the animation.
Al Wakrah Stadium
The controversial Qatar 2022 Stadium, fully visualized and animated.
Library & Learning Centre – University of Economics Vienna
This recently completed bad boy had some pieces of its angled concrete façade fall off.
Video credit Methanoia
Japan New National Stadium
This controversial project may have been cancelled, but its beautiful trailer lives on.
Video credit Methanoia
Expo 2020 in Izmir, Turkey
This masterplan is derived from some parameters, but you might have to ask Schumacher which ones.
Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center
This iconic project in Baku earned the Popular vote in the 2014 A+Awards Theaters and Performing Arts Centers typology.
Changsha Meixihu International Culture & Art Center (pictured at top, courtesy of ZHA)
Classic Zaha animation here, with both exterior and interior swoops.
Salerno Ferry Terminal
This video is a bit older, and its amazing how far the technology has come in such a short amount of time. This one looks like James Bond for N64.
Civil Courts of Justice Madrid
A surprisingly regular form takes on an intricate façade.
Video credit Methanoia
Beethoven Concert Hall, Bonn
This concert hall is elegant and restrained.
Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter. All videos via Zaha Hadid Architects on Vimeo.
