EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS
he London-based firm, Zaha Hadid Architects is a dy-
namic and complex representation of current design. It
is known for creating mesmerizing products on an ur-
ban, architectural, and interior scale, as well as furnishings. Two of
its most renowned names, Patrik Schumacher and Kar-Hwa Ho,
have an impressive academic and professional background, having
studied in some of the most prestigious schools around the world,
such as the University of Klagenfurt and the Harvard University’s
Graduate School of Design, respectively, and having also worked
on internationally acclaimed projects. They will always carry on
Zaha’s spirit through organic and ambitious designs.
Kar-Hwa Ho was a student of Zaha Hadid at the Architectural
Association in London. Their work together commenced in 1985.
In the early 2000’s, Kar left the company for a while, and in 2014,
returned as head of interiors. Patrik Schumacher was a student in
London, and he first encountered Hadid in a Tate conference on
deconstructivism, and he joined the firm twenty-eight years ago.
Kar viewed Hadid’s educational method as an analogy to a stu-
dio environment. She didn’t create a barrier between being the
teacher, the friend or the mentor. According to the designer, she
taught in a collaborative sort of way.
Schumacher elucidates that Zaha Hadid Architects grew gradu-
ally, but it was in the late 90’s that it became an established firm
with multiple projects. Developing as partners, Patrik and Zaha
created a professional organization that at the present counts
with 400 endowed individuals. What attracted Patrik the most
to the work was Zaha’s very shocking yet liberating approach
towards architecture, however he explains that, “It took a long
time to develop that freshness and magic into a reality through
many competitions and going with small buildings, exhibitions,
installations, furniture, and into medium size buildings, so that
was something that matured over twenty years.”
Patrik describes the Maxxi Museum in Rome as the firm’s finest
breakthrough. Subsequently, he refers to the Guangzhou Opera
House, the Heydar Aliyev centre in Baku, and the Dongdaemun
Design in Seoul as other astonishing achievements. In order to
create these buildings’ interiors, Kar believes that “it is just this
whole idea of research, pushing these boundaries, and there is no
divide between the inside and the outside because quite often the
geometry of one informs the other and the space of the outside
flows into the inside. It is like one immersive space.”
Zaha Hadid Gallery in London
Patrick Schumacher & Kar-Hwa Ho