#BattleFest2016: Zaha Hadid - her life and legacy

A recording of the discussion at the Battle of Ideas 2016. The architect Zaha Hadid, who died in March, was described in a CNN interview in 2013 as ‘one of the most celebrated – and divisive – designers on the planet’. In life, she was respected or reviled, but seldom ignored. She was a powerful woman in a man’s world, and an Arab at the top of the Western design industry. She was a designer of curves in a world of boxes and a leader in an age of consensus. What will be Zaha Hadid’s legacy? Is there still a place for risk-taking and experimentation? Is there anyone out there who can fill her shoes? CHAIR: AUSTIN WILLIAMS associate professor in architecture, XJTLU University, Suzhou, China; director, Future Cities Project; convenor, Bookshop Barnies; founding member of New Narratives IN CONVERSATION WITH: DR PATRIK SCHUMACHER principal, Zaha Hadid Architects; author, The Autopoiesis of Architecture