Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid is perhaps one of the most famous living architects in the world. She was the first female recipient of architecture’s Pritzker Prize in 2004 and is well known for her ambitious and prolific work which includes a ski jump in Austria, the Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in Ohio and the Vitra Fire Station in Germany.

Hadid studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before moving to London, where she is now based, to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. After graduating she worked with her former teachers, becoming a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in 1977.

Although the winner of a several design competitions, famously a number of her winning designs, such as the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales and The Peak Club in Hong Kong, were never actually built.

She completed her first British building Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife in 2006. The same year she was honoured with a retrospective spanning her entire work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and received an Honorary Degree from the American University of Beirut. In 2008, she ranked 69th on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.