Project 3: Initial Research

Brief

For this project I have been given the name of a creative practitioner, Zaha Hadid and you will need to design an exhibition for it. I will be required to create an identity for the exhibition, a method of promotion in a space, informative ephemera and way-finding systems, as well as providing an indication of content.

Deliverables

• 4 x A3 sheets that provide an overview of the exhibition, including how the brand’s identity system works

• Visuals / video / animation of the promotion in a space

• Informative ephemera (digital or printed)

• Two examples of your way-finding systems

• Process Book – documenting your module including projects 1–3 • Blog – documenting your module

Initial Research - Zaha Hadid

To start off with I decided to research the artist I was given Zaha Hadid. She was a Prominent architect with her working spanning from late 20th century - present.

Background

Zaha was the first woman to win the Pritzeker prize for architecture (2004). Her architecture is unique and abstract she focus more on the space than the actual building using sketching as her main medium to create these designs.

“multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life.”

This quote was taken from a biography on the design museum website. I think it is the best description of her work. She uses her architecture to evoke a feeling. Her portfolio has been full of success and failures she has had many a projects that have been rejected because her designs have been so radical and different. However not always practical, Patrik Schumacher stated in his book Zaha Hadid (Date), That each building she created is a manifesto for her ideology of a utopian lifestyle. Each building was an improvement on the last letting her get closer to the perfect way of new living. So there were many mistakes many spaces looked nice but not practical. Such as the Vitra fire station (below) where it was amazing to look at but not to work practically as the fire department moved out just 2 years after it had been made.

Being the first successful female architect many people did not know how to deal with her because she was totally new and different. She was also headstrong adamant on creating her idea of spatial articulation many people in the media dubbed her as a 'diva'. So in response to that she got her employees from her firm at a corporate event to where shirts saying:

Would the call me a diva if I were a guy?

Showing that she was not afraid to question what people were thinking. Her drive for her idea of a new space and way of living was the most important thing. She used her space to make inhabitants interpret how they should inhabit by removing any idea of the 'normal' space. She used complicated shape to help create focal points and lead the viewer around a space.

Style

Her style has been wrongly classified with having a neo-modernist style but she is actually creative revivalist picking up from where others left off. She was greatly inspired by De Stijl movement and the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich's suprematism. Natural forms such as canyons and lava flows were big influences in her work. She used these shapes to created by nature and abstracted them and brought them into life in her buildings. The surrounding nature where the building is going to be is something she considers she wants each building to seem as if it was there for centuries and apart of the landscape

De Stijl Movement

De Stijl movement was a paired down style of the ultimate fusion of form and function. The style was prominent in the Netherlands in the early 20th century. Zaha was inspired heavily by the Rietveld Schroeder house in Utrecht where it was one of the first houses used to create the ultimate feeling when living in it.

Suprematism

This movement was created by Kazimir Malevich. He used his painting to try and evoke the most supreme feeling in life. Using abstraction to elevate his work to a higher 'supreme' place. You can see in Zaha's own sketches for her work relate strongly to Malevich's.

Kazimir Malevich, (c.1915). Dynamic Suprematism

Zaha Hadid, Sketch

Initial Ideas - Exhibition Concepts

To move on from my research I decided to create some concepts on what I could base the exhibition because her work and life is very broad I want to do justice to her and create an exhibition that encompasses the most important parts of her work.

Possible idea 1

'Utopia' explaining the reasons behind her buildings because many people take in her buildings at face value and do not understand the reason behind her work that she is revolutionary going against the status quo. I would describe her manifesto of this utopian space and way of living.

Possible Idea 2

'Legacy' sadly Hadid died at 65 in 2016. But her works that she has designed are still being made be her firm Zara Hadid Architects. I would want to show the legacy and the change she has created in todays view of architecture.

Possible Idea 3

'Revivalism' talking about the style and theories she picked up from movements of the past and how she created that in her own ideas.

Initial Ideas - Exhibitions

Van Gogh, Starry Night - Culture Spaces

Culture Spaces used projection to completely immerse the viewer into the world of Van Gogh paintings. This is an interesting concept and quite simple where they used sound and projection to bring the beauty of the painting to life. This simple use of projection and sound could be something I could bring into my own work.

Corita Kent, Power Up - Fraser Muggeridge

This Exhibition about Sister Corita's work shows a clear identity through the use of colour and shape. I am definitely going to think about shape and colour in my exhibition because I think it is a very important way in how Hadid drew people around her buildings.

Tokyo Tableware Exhibition - Nendo

Japanese design studio Nendo created a snaking pattern through a space to create an exhibition all about simplicity. This use of shape leading the viewer through out the exhibition is a good idea in my own work in creating a way finding system. Shape is so important in Zaha's designs and she uses shape to lead a person around her space so this is something I could use.