ZHA Architects

Professional services

London-based international architecture and design practice founded by Zaha Hadid and known for research-led, fluid and technologically advanced buildings, interiors and urban projects.

Last updated October 14, 2026

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Overview

ZHA Architects, formerly Zaha Hadid Architects, is a London-based architecture and design practice founded by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid in 1979. The studio began as the professional vehicle for Hadid’s experimental architectural work and developed from a small London office into a global multidisciplinary practice. Its projects span cultural institutions, civic buildings, transport infrastructure, workplaces, hospitality, residential development, sports venues, masterplans, interiors, furniture and other product collaborations. The practice became internationally prominent through a body of speculative drawings and competition proposals that challenged conventional assumptions about architectural form, movement and space. Hadid’s early work was associated with the deconstructivist and avant-garde architecture movements, but the studio later translated its formally radical ideas into complex built projects using advances in computer-aided design, parametric modelling, engineering and digital fabrication. ZHA’s architecture is often identified by flowing geometries, continuous surfaces, dramatic structural compositions and public interiors designed to connect multiple programmes and circulation routes. Patrik Schumacher joined Hadid’s practice in 1988 and became a partner in 2003. After Hadid’s death in 2016, Schumacher became the firm’s principal and helped lead its continuing international operations. The practice continued to trade under the Zaha Hadid name through a licensing arrangement associated with the Zaha Hadid Foundation. That arrangement later became the subject of litigation concerning the duration and termination of the name licence. Following the termination of the licence, the company adopted the ZHA identity, presenting itself as a collective, employee-owned studio rather than a practice centred on its founder’s name. ZHA describes its current organization as a community of approximately 500 people from 55 nations working across five global offices. Its stated areas of expertise include architecture, urban design, masterplanning, interiors, landscape-related work, research, digital design and product collaborations. The studio also maintains research initiatives such as the Computation and Design Group and ZHAI, an analytics and insights unit exploring artificial intelligence and data-informed design. Sustainability work includes low-carbon design guidance and climate-oriented modelling. The practice’s best-known completed works include the MAXXI museum in Rome, the London Aquatics Centre, the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Beijing Daxing International Airport terminal and the Opus development in Dubai. ZHA continues to work on projects across multiple continents, including cultural, transport, healthcare, workplace, residential and urban developments. Its positioning combines high-profile architectural authorship with multidisciplinary research, advanced design technologies and large-scale international project delivery. Zaha Hadid, commonly represented by the professional practice Zaha Hadid Architects, is a London-founded architecture and design firm established by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid in 1980. The practice became one of the most recognizable names in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century architecture through its highly expressive buildings, experimental drawings, computational design methods and large-scale urban projects. Its work ranges from cultural institutions, museums and performing-arts venues to transportation infrastructure, sports facilities, offices, residential buildings, retail interiors, furniture and product design. Hadid's early reputation was built less through completed buildings than through paintings, competitions and speculative projects. Her drawings translated ideas from Russian avant-garde art, suprematism and fragmented urban landscapes into dynamic compositions that challenged conventional architectural representation. The practice's first major completed projects included the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany, and the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio. These works helped demonstrate that the formal language associated with Hadid's competition projects could be realized as functioning public architecture. The firm is associated with fluid geometries, continuous surfaces, dramatic structural forms and digitally assisted design. It is often linked to parametricism, although the practice has used that term alongside broader methods of computational design, material experimentation and engineering collaboration. Its projects frequently seek to organize circulation, landscape and structure as a unified spatial system rather than as a collection of conventional rectilinear rooms. The resulting buildings are often visually distinctive landmarks, but the practice also presents its work as a response to movement, public space, environmental conditions and complex urban programs. Major commissions include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Beijing Daxing International Airport terminal and the Morpheus hotel in Macau. The firm has also worked on master plans, infrastructure and commercial developments in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and elsewhere. Its portfolio includes both completed projects and continuing design, research and planning work. Zaha Hadid became the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004 and was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects' Royal Gold Medal in 2016. She died in Miami in March 2016. The practice continued after her death under principal and senior leadership including Patrik Schumacher, maintaining the Zaha Hadid name and its international project portfolio. Today, Zaha Hadid Architects operates as a multidisciplinary professional-services practice whose work encompasses architecture, interiors, urban design, research and product-related design. The firm remains privately held; detailed financial information is not publicly established in the supplied sources.

History

Zaha Hadid established her London practice in 1979 after graduating from the Architectural Association and gaining recognition for highly experimental architectural drawings and competition entries. The early studio developed a distinctive language influenced by abstraction, painting and investigations into movement. Although many early proposals were unrealized, they established the conceptual foundation for later buildings and helped position Hadid as a major figure in late twentieth-century architectural culture. Patrik Schumacher joined the practice in 1988 and became a partner in 2003. During the 1990s and 2000s, the office expanded its capacity to deliver complex buildings, moving from predominantly speculative work toward a growing portfolio of cultural, civic and commercial commissions. Digital modelling and computational methods became central to the studio’s workflow, enabling the coordination of irregular geometries with structural, environmental and construction requirements. The practice also expanded internationally, including the establishment of a Beijing studio. The 2000s brought a series of major commissions and completed works. The Vitra Fire Station, Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Phaeno Science Center and MAXXI demonstrated the studio’s ability to turn its experimental formal language into public architecture. Hadid received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004, becoming the first woman to receive the award. Subsequent projects such as the Guangzhou Opera House, London Aquatics Centre, Heydar Aliyev Center and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium proposal further increased the practice’s global profile, even though not every proposal was built. Following Hadid’s death in 2016, Schumacher became the firm’s principal. The practice continued to deliver projects under the Zaha Hadid Architects name and expanded its work across transport, hospitality, residential, workplace, healthcare, sports and urban-development sectors. Research became increasingly institutionalized through computational design, material studies, digital fabrication and data-informed approaches. In the 2020s, the practice also explored artificial intelligence through ZHAI and participated in virtual and metaverse-related design projects. The firm’s use of the founder’s name was governed by a licensing arrangement associated with the Zaha Hadid Foundation. The arrangement, signed in 2013 according to reporting on the subsequent dispute, required royalty payments in exchange for continued use of the name. The parties later litigated over whether the agreement could be terminated. A Court of Appeal ruling reported in 2026 concluded that an indefinite contract was not automatically perpetual, after which the licence was terminated and the practice adopted the ZHA identity. ZHA now describes itself as an employee-owned international practice with about 500 people from 55 nations and five global offices. Its current work continues to combine architecture, urbanism, interiors, product design and research. The studio’s stated agenda includes long-term building performance, low-carbon design, climate modelling and the use of emerging technologies. Its legacy remains closely associated with Zaha Hadid’s transformation of architectural form, while its current structure emphasizes collective authorship and an international design workforce. Zaha Hadid Architects grew out of Zaha Hadid's independent London practice, founded in 1980 after she had studied architecture at the Architectural Association and worked in the office of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Hadid's early work was characterized by competition entries, paintings and theoretical projects rather than a large number of completed buildings. Her graphic method broke buildings into angular, fragmented and rapidly moving fields, and drew on Russian suprematism and avant-garde urban imagery. Although these projects were influential in architectural circles, the practice spent much of its first decade developing a reputation through ideas and exhibitions. A significant turning point came with the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, completed in 1993. The building gave physical form to the sharp geometries and compressed movement of Hadid's drawings. The practice subsequently received wider attention for cultural and institutional projects, including the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, which opened in 2003. The Rosenthal Center's urban insertion and complex interior circulation helped establish the office as a major international design practice rather than solely a speculative or paper-architecture studio. During the 2000s, the firm expanded its international work and adopted increasingly sophisticated digital modeling, fabrication and engineering processes. Projects such as the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, the MAXXI museum in Rome, the Guangzhou Opera House and the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi demonstrated different applications of the practice's characteristic approach. In 2004, Hadid became the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The award significantly reinforced her standing within the global profession and helped accelerate the practice's access to major public and cultural commissions. The office's work became especially visible through major event and infrastructure projects. The London Aquatics Centre was designed for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and later adapted for public use. The Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, completed in 2012, used a continuous folded surface to create a cultural complex with exhibition and performance spaces. In China, the practice designed the Guangzhou Opera House and later Beijing Daxing International Airport, whose terminal opened in 2019. Other major projects included the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, the Messner Mountain Museum Corones in South Tyrol and the Morpheus hotel in Macau. Zaha Hadid died in Miami on 31 March 2016 from a heart attack while being treated for bronchitis. The practice continued after her death rather than closing or being absorbed into another architecture group. Patrik Schumacher, who had joined the office in 1988 and became a long-term intellectual and managerial figure, remained a principal. The organization continued to deliver projects using the Zaha Hadid Architects name and expanded its interests in computational design, urbanism, interiors, landscape, research and product design. The firm's architectural language has sometimes been described through the term parametricism, particularly in discussions associated with Schumacher. In practice, its portfolio is broader than a single formal doctrine: projects respond to site, program, structure, circulation, digital fabrication and public-realm conditions in different ways. The practice's buildings are often commissioned as civic or commercial landmarks and have attracted both professional acclaim and debate about cost, constructability, labor conditions and the cultural politics of landmark development. Its awards and completed projects nevertheless make it one of the most influential contemporary architecture practices of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

2026
Practice rebrands as ZHA
[7]Zaha Hadid Architects Officially Rebrands as ZHAarchilovers.com
Following termination of the name-licensing arrangement, the practice adopts the ZHA Architects identity.
2021
Employee ownership announced
[2]About Uszha.com
The practice transitions to a structure wholly owned by its employees.
2019
Beijing Daxing International Airport opens
[13]Zaha Hadid Architects: Beijing Daxing International Airportzaha-hadid.com
The practice's major Beijing airport terminal begins commercial operations.
2016
Death of Zaha Hadid
[4]The Legacy of Dame Zahazha.com
The founder dies, after which Patrik Schumacher leads the continuing practice.
2016
Royal Gold Medal awarded
[11]Royal Institute of British Architects: Zaha Hadid awarded the 2016 Royal Gold Medalarchitecture.com
The Royal Institute of British Architects awards Hadid its Royal Gold Medal for architecture.
2012
London Aquatics Centre completed
[12]Zaha Hadid Architects: London Aquatics Centrezaha-hadid.com
The London Aquatics Centre serves as a principal swimming and diving venue for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
2012
Heydar Aliyev Center completed
[14]Zaha Hadid Architects: Heydar Aliyev Centerzaha-hadid.com
The Baku cultural center opens with a flowing architectural envelope containing exhibition, event and public spaces.
2010
MAXXI opens in Rome
[15]Zaha Hadid Architects: MAXXIzaha-hadid.com
The National Museum of XXI Century Arts opens in Rome, presenting a complex of intersecting galleries and circulation paths.
2007
Heydar Aliyev Center commission
[3]Our Storyzha.com
ZHA is appointed design architect for the major cultural centre in Baku.
2004
Zaha Hadid receives the Pritzker Prize
[6]From Zaha Hadid Architects to ZHAworld-architects.com
Zaha Hadid receives the Pritzker Prize and becomes its first woman laureate.
2003
Schumacher becomes partner
[6]From Zaha Hadid Architects to ZHAworld-architects.com
Patrik Schumacher is made a partner in the practice.
2003
Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art opens
[18]Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art openszaha-hadid.com
The Cincinnati art center becomes an important early American commission and a major completed cultural building by the practice.
1993
Vitra Fire Station completed
[17]Vitra Fire Station completedzaha-hadid.com
The Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein becomes the practice's first major completed building and a key early expression of Hadid's experimental formal language.
1988
Patrik Schumacher joins the practice
[6]From Zaha Hadid Architects to ZHAworld-architects.com
Schumacher begins working with Zaha Hadid and later becomes a partner and principal.
1980
London practice founded
[9]Zaha Hadid biographyzaha-hadid.com
Zaha Hadid establishes her architecture practice in London, later known internationally as Zaha Hadid Architects.
1979
Practice founded in London
[3]Our Storyzha.com
Zaha Hadid establishes the architecture practice that later becomes Zaha Hadid Architects and then ZHA Architects.

Products and positioning

A globally recognized, design-led architecture and urbanism practice positioned around experimental form, computational design, multidisciplinary collaboration and landmark civic, cultural, transportation and commercial projects.

Professional services · 1979
Architectural design
ZHA designs cultural, civic, commercial, residential, hospitality, workplace, healthcare, sports and transport buildings. Its work typically integrates architectural form, structural engineering, environmental performance and circulation into a unified concept, often using computational modelling to coordinate complex geometries. The firm's principal offering is architectural design for cultural, civic, transportation, commercial, residential, hospitality and sports projects. Services cover concept development, detailed design, coordination and delivery through multidisciplinary teams working with clients, engineers, contractors and specialist consultants.
Professional service
Urban design and masterplanning
The studio develops masterplans, districts and public-realm strategies at metropolitan and site scales. These projects connect buildings with transport, landscape, infrastructure and civic space, applying the practice’s interest in movement, connectivity and adaptable urban form.
Design service
Interior and product design
ZHA works on interiors, furniture, lighting, objects and other design collaborations. These smaller-scale activities extend the practice’s formal and material research beyond buildings and often explore continuous surfaces, digitally fabricated components and new spatial experiences.
Research and technology
ZHA CODE and ZHAI research
The practice’s research activities investigate computational design, digital fabrication, data, artificial intelligence and environmental analysis. These initiatives support design development and address construction, workplace, climate and performance questions across the studio’s project portfolio.
Urbanism
Urban design and master planning
Zaha Hadid Architects develops urban frameworks, master plans and public-realm strategies intended to organize movement, density, landscape and infrastructure at district or city scale. The work can include mixed-use development planning, transport-oriented environments and long-term spatial strategies.
Interior design
Interior and spatial design
The practice designs interiors and integrated environments for cultural venues, offices, hospitality, retail and residential projects. These commissions extend the firm's approach to continuous surfaces, circulation, lighting, furniture and custom details.
Transportation architecture · 2019
Beijing Daxing International Airport
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, Beijing Daxing International Airport's principal terminal is organized around a central hub with radiating concourses. The configuration was intended to shorten passenger walking distances while accommodating a large, integrated transport facility.
Sports architecture · 2012
London Aquatics Centre
The London Aquatics Centre was designed for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Its sweeping roof spans the pools and diving facilities, and the building was subsequently adapted for continuing public and community use.
Cultural architecture · 2012
Heydar Aliyev Center
The Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku is a cultural complex whose exhibition and event spaces are enclosed by a continuous, curving envelope. It is among the practice's best-known civic buildings and a prominent example of its surface-driven design approach.
Museum architecture · 2010
MAXXI
MAXXI, Rome's National Museum of XXI Century Arts, uses intersecting galleries, ramps and structural lines to create a flexible exhibition environment. The museum was one of the practice's defining cultural commissions of the 2000s.
Hospitality architecture · 2018
Morpheus
Morpheus is a hotel and resort tower in Macau organized around a structural exoskeleton and large interconnected voids. It was developed as part of City of Dreams and completed after Hadid's death.

Controversies

2024
Dispute over the Zaha Hadid name licence
The practice became involved in litigation concerning a licensing agreement that permitted continued use of the Zaha Hadid name and required royalty payments to the Zaha Hadid Foundation. The dispute concerned whether an indefinite agreement could be ended.
Source

2026Architecture of Possibility: ZHA
China
An exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in Shenzhen presents chronological and thematic views of ZHA’s work, research methods and long relationship with China and the Greater Bay Area.
Outcome. Scheduled to run through April 10, 2026, according to the practice’s announcement.
Source
2020Liberland Metaverse
Global · Virtual
ZHA designed a virtual city associated with the Liberland micronation and hosted on a metaverse platform, extending the studio’s architectural and urban-design work into virtual environments.
Outcome. The project demonstrated the practice’s interest in digital and virtual forms of urbanism.
Source

Brand decisions

2026
Rebrand from Zaha Hadid Architects to ZHAStrategy
Background
After the name-licensing arrangement was terminated following litigation, the practice needed to operate without using the founder’s full name as its principal brand.
Action taken
The company adopted the ZHA Architects identity and presented the change as an evolution toward a collective, employee-owned practice.
Aftermath
The studio continues operating internationally under the ZHA name while completing projects initiated during the Zaha Hadid Architects era.
Source
2021
Transition to employee ownershipStrategy
Background
The practice sought a long-term ownership structure reflecting its collective workforce and ongoing investment in research and design capabilities.
Action taken
ZHA transitioned to an employee-owned company and stated that profits would be reinvested in its people and operations.
Aftermath
The practice describes itself as wholly owned by approximately 500 employees working across five global offices.
Source
2019
Beijing Daxing International Airport enters operationProduct launch
Background
The practice had been commissioned to design the principal terminal for a major new airport serving Beijing.
Action taken
Zaha Hadid Architects delivered the terminal design, which opened to commercial flights in 2019.
Aftermath
The airport became one of the practice's most visible transportation projects and a prominent example of its large-scale computational and parametric design work.
Source
2016
Continuation of the practice after Zaha Hadid's deathOther
Background
Zaha Hadid died in March 2016 while the practice had an extensive international portfolio and projects at different stages of development.
Action taken
The firm continued operating under the Zaha Hadid Architects name with its existing multidisciplinary organization and principal leadership, including Patrik Schumacher.
Aftermath
The practice continued to complete major projects and undertake new commissions after Hadid's death, preserving the brand as an active architecture practice.
Source

Sources19 sources

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