Zaha Hadid Architects: Design as Second Nature

Design as second nature is the first exhibition in Latin America on the projects of the architect Zaha Hadid. With models, audiovisual materials, paintings and photographs, the show deals with the creative process of her practice and demonstrates the importance and complexity of design as an articulating axis for forms and constructive processes in her work.

For Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), design must be, beyond its practical function, a process of innovating with materials and structures. The studio has developed parametricism, a digital tool inspired by scientific simulation and film animation, which it uses to increase the creative capacities and possibilities of the logic of design, in order to make it more expressive and imaginative, and to better reflect the dynamism of contemporary urban life.

The exhibition includes some of the earliest paintings by Hadid, such as Malevich’s Tektonik (1976-1977), which, in addition to demonstrating the influence of Constructivism and Russian Suprematism onher art, are presented as a tool of exploration for architectural design and as autonomous entities. We also present pieces from different disciplines, such as objects and garments, as examples of her readiness to blur borders in her practice.

In addition, there is a section dedicated to the architectural projects that the studio developed for Latin America, such as the proposal for the new airport in Mexico City, in collaboration with Francisco Serrano’s studio, or the JVC center in Guadalajara.

In its eagerness to experiment, the ZHCode Research laboratory has conducted research on membranes and studies of curves and shells, which are also included in this sample. In parallel, the courtyard of the MUAC houses a piece made by the laboratory expressly for this exhibition, in collaboration with Block Research Group, ETH Zurich (BRG) and Architecture Extrapolated (R-Ex).

Beyond the different building typologies, the exhibition aims to present the synergies of ZHA’s work, the proposals that relate to inhabiting a shared world and the link between nature and the creative processes that shape an organic design for the future.

Curator: Woody Yao

When
20 October 2018 to 3 March 2019
Where
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC)
Insurgentes Sur 3000
C.P. 04510 Mexico City, Mexico
Organizer
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo
Link
MUAC

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