Zaha Hadid

Iraqi-born; studied mathematics at AUB before moving to London for the AA School, where she trained under Rem Koolhaas. Her painting-based competition entries (Hong Kong Peak, 1983) were celebrated long before any were buildable.

Vitra Fire Station (1993) was her first built work. Then Phaeno Science Centre (Wolfsburg, 2005), MAXXI Rome (2009), Heydar Aliyev Centre (Baku, 2012), Galaxy Soho (Beijing, 2012), Guangzhou Opera House.

Liquid, fragmented geometries that read as paintings made buildable by parametric tools. Late ZHA work pushed parametricism further than any peer.

First woman to win the Pritzker (2004). First woman solo recipient of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (2016, awarded weeks before her death).