Committee on Design

Zaha Hadid, 1950-2016 (Photo Steve Double, taken from ArchDaily)

This article asking "what is architecture"  had been almost complete when news about Zaha Hadid's sudden death broke. She had approached that  question so deftly, unafraid, and exuberantly. She created visionary avantgarde drawings that later became three dimensional to touch and walk through. Whether there was a building or not was not her initial concern. In a way she was the incarnation of "The Other Architect", persisting in an architecture world then still dominated by men.

Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein (Germany). Hadid's Big Bang.

What is architecture? 

This question is probably not one that that would keep many people awake at night. Nevertheless, it is interesting how little agreement there is about what it is and what it isn't. Naturally, then, the same uncertainty befalls the architect as well.

Notre Dame Cathedral rose window, Paris France

An architecture center seems like a good place to explore the issue. The Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA), was founded in 1979 as a research centre and museum based on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. CCA is about to close an exhibit it was running in Montreal since October that is...

 

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