Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Zaha Hadid has advanced the language of contemporary architecture and design, exploring complex fluid geometries and using cutting-edge digital design and fabrication technologies.
Photo © Paul Warchol
For Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion Hadid has create an all-encompassing environment to display examples of the furniture, objects, and footwear she has designed in recent years as well as her three-wheeled Z-Car I, an aerodynamic prototype mimicking several of Hadid’s sculptural forms.
Photo courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
Z-Car I, 2006
Made by GTM Cars, Kingswinford, England
In collaboration with Kenny Shachter/ ROVE Gallery London.
Combining architecture and design, Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion displays an environment of an undulating structure of finished polystyrene with vinyl graphics based on curvilinear geometries. Exploiting a formal language of fluid movement, Hadid’s exhibition design emphasizes the continuous nature of her work, and how the fields of architecture, urbanism, and design are closely interrelated in her practice.
Photo © Paul Warchol
Sleekly curving sofas, tables,and chairs made of materials ranging from steel and aluminum to polyurethane inhabits the gallery, while jewelry, shoes, and tableware, installed together in small groups along a rippling wall represent the wide variety of new and unusual shapes Hadid has introduced into the language of design.
Photo © Paul Warchol
Photo Enrico Suà Ummarino, courtesy Sawaya & Moroni
Z-Chair, 2011
Photo courtesy Eduardo Perez
Mesa Table, 2007
Made by Vitra GmbH, Basel, Switzerland.
Some works are disguised as micro-architecture, such as the Coffee & Tea Set(1997), nearly unidentifiable as a set of containers for tea, coffee, milk, and sugar. Others, including WMF Flatware and Crevasse Vases, are more transparent in function.
Photo courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
Coffee and Tea Set, 1995-1996.
Made by Sawaya & Moroni, Milan, Italy
Photo courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
WMF Flatware (5 piece), 2007
Made by Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik AG, Germany
Photo courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
Crevasse Vases, 2005
Production Alessi Spa, Italy.
Among the highlights are a collection of Swarovski crystal-encrusted necklaces and bracelets, and spiraling, strappy shoes made for Melissa and Lacoste.
Photo courtesy Atelier Swarovski
Jet Bracelet, 2008
Photo courtesy David Grandorge
Melissa Shoes, 2008
Made by Grendene S.A., Farroupilha,
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Photo courtesy Lacoste
Lacoste Shoes, 2008
Made by Lacoste S.A., Paris, France.
“The design expression behind the collaboration with Lacoste footwear allows the evolution of dynamic fluid grids. When wrapped around the shape of a foot, these expand and contract to negotiate and adapt to the body ergonomically. In doing so a landscape emerges, undulating and radiating as it merges seamlessly with the body."
Zaha Hadid
Read about the Lacoste footwear in arcspace feature.
“Hadid is interested in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology, and explores the intersection of these elements with a spatial composition that ebbs and flows in wave-like movements, manipulating the viewer’s understanding of space with constantly shifting perspectives.”
Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger
Curator of European Decorative Arts after 1700
Photo © Paul Warchol
Photo © Paul Warchol
Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion on view through March 25, 2012.
Zaha Hadid Architects arcspace features
October 17, 2011
