The New York Times, October 6, 1994
Another Design That People
Love to Hate
[Zaha's drawing of project]
By Lucie Young
BRITAIN'S foremost female architect, Iraqi-born
Zaha Hadid, may take small comfort from the
fact that her design for the Cardiff Opera House
in Wales is being compared with that of the Eiffel Tow-
er -- which much of the public initially loathed. Last
month, after Ms. Hadid's design won an international
competition, a television poll in Wales found that 89
percent of respondents disliked her proposal. " 'A
ripped-open shoe box with a TV inside' is how I heard it
described," said Nick Horton, a reporter at The West-
ern Mail and Echo in Cardiff.
In defense of her building design, with its super-
stretch geometry and dynamic zigzag lines, Ms. Hadid,
44, said she was trying to move away from the tradi-
tional blocky opera house to "something more modern
and urban." A low-rise concrete and glass structure
holding rehearsal space and offices, takes the shape of
a "street" that wraps around a courtyard containing
an auditorium. Will it get the royal seal of approval?
Ms. Hadid thinks not.
-------------------
END
Another Design That People
Love to Hate
[Zaha's drawing of project]
By Lucie Young
BRITAIN'S foremost female architect, Iraqi-born
Zaha Hadid, may take small comfort from the
fact that her design for the Cardiff Opera House
in Wales is being compared with that of the Eiffel Tow-
er -- which much of the public initially loathed. Last
month, after Ms. Hadid's design won an international
competition, a television poll in Wales found that 89
percent of respondents disliked her proposal. " 'A
ripped-open shoe box with a TV inside' is how I heard it
described," said Nick Horton, a reporter at The West-
ern Mail and Echo in Cardiff.
In defense of her building design, with its super-
stretch geometry and dynamic zigzag lines, Ms. Hadid,
44, said she was trying to move away from the tradi-
tional blocky opera house to "something more modern
and urban." A low-rise concrete and glass structure
holding rehearsal space and offices, takes the shape of
a "street" that wraps around a courtyard containing
an auditorium. Will it get the royal seal of approval?
Ms. Hadid thinks not.
-------------------
END