51 - Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid (Baghdad 1950–2016 Miami), “Kurfürstendamm 70 Project, Berlin” (design for an office building), 1986/87, pencil, colored pencils, and gouache on vélin, signed in pencil lower right, 24.7 x 38 cm, mounted on backing board and set under glass and a mat in a white anodized aluminum frame, overall size: 44 x 44 cm. Limit 1,800 The architectural history of the design for Kurfürstendamm 70 in Berlin is a fascinating example of visionary, yet ultimately unrealized, milestones of the modernist avant-garde. It illustrates the radical changes in architectural theory of the late 1980s. In the summer of 1986, a Berlin developer announced an architectural competition for an office building on the upper Kurfürstendamm. The conditions were extreme: the site was tiny and extremely narrow, with a width of only 2.7 meters. To make the building usable at all, the City of Berlin permitted an overhanging structure extending over the sidewalk. Five renowned architects were invited to participate, including the German-American architect Helmut Jahn. Zaha Hadid won first prize with her submission. Instead of a classic, rigid facade, she designed a dynamic, sail-like glass front that appeared to rotate. Inspired by Russian Suprematism, Hadid deliberately broke with right angles and the traditional Berlin block-perimeter development style. Her design is thus not merely a technical blueprint, but an artistic manifesto for dynamic, fluid architecture.