Zaha Hadid was born in Baghdad in 1950, studied mathematics in Lebanon, and later enrolled at the Architectural Association (AA) in the United Kingdom in 1972 to pursue architecture. In 1979, Zaha Hadid established her own firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, and quickly gained international acclaim for her groundbreaking designs in international competitions held in Hong Kong, Germany, and Wales. As an architect who continually pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design, her work explores innovative spatial concepts, enhances existing urban landscapes, and spans all design scales—from the city to interiors and furnishings. She is renowned for her groundbreaking architectural works, including the Heydar Aliyev Center, Galaxy Soho, the Salerno Maritime Terminal, the Antwerp Port House, and the Mathematics Gallery at the Science Museum, among others. Born in Baghdad in 1950, Zaha Hadid studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before starting her architectural journey in 1972 at the Architectural Association in London. By 1979 she had established her own practice in London - Zaha Hadid Architects - garnering a reputation across the world for her ground-breaking theoretical works in Hong Kong, Germany and Wales. Known as an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design, her work experiments with new spatial concepts intensifying existing urban landscapes and encompassing all fields of design, from the urban scale to interiors and furniture. She is well-known for some of her seminal built works, such at the Heydar Aliyev Centre, Galaxy Soho, Salerno Maritime Terminal, Port House Antwerp, The Winton Gallery at the Science Museum, etc.
Co-founder of Leaping Creative, a brand strategy firm, and a cross-disciplinary designer; holds an Honors Bachelor’s degree in Product Design from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London; Member of the Chartered Society of Designers (UK) in Product Design. In 2014, Guangzhou International Design Week was named a “Guangzhou Design Icon”; in 2012, he was selected among the Top 100 Outstanding Chinese Designers Under 35; he won the Best Product Design Award at Hong Kong’s “Harmony Design” 48‑Hour Challenge; his sofa design “Memory of Cotton” was featured at the U.S. Cotton Council’s 2008 Beijing Art Festival; and his designs have earned the China Red Cotton Industrial Design Award for three consecutive years.
In the future, I hope that design will remain at the heart of what we do—after all, it’s a truly powerful way to engage with society and the world. Carrying on with this matter and doing it well is my only plan.
Professional strengths: space design and furnishings design Representative works: Baohuayuanshu, Zhongxing Honglu, Shang Dongding, Weskeia, Zhongjin Haitang Bay, Eastern Suburb Ziyuan, Tomson Lake Court, Hongti Peninsula, Southern Suburb Villa, Path Feili Bay, Dahua Jinxiu Huacheng, Dahao Mountain Forest, Da 'an Sheng Baba, Bruce County, Poly Home, Four Seasons Imperial Court, Shang Hai style, Renheng Shibin, Xiangsheng Sijiang Bay, Taoyuan, Wai Yuan, green Shanghe Court, Pujiang Overseas Chinese Town, Hushan in sight, Oriental Hawaii, Tomson Hall, Yipin Mancheng, Green City Rose Garden, etc.
Professional strengths: once worked as a design director in a Taiwan design company, presided over large-scale projects of more than 20000 square meters, worked rigorously and meticulously, and strictly controlled the implementation of design works. Overseas study experience: Japan, Italy. Representative works (real estate): Jiulongcang Lan Gong, Zhongjin Haitang, Renheng Binjiang, Cuihu Tiandi, Hongqiao Yushu, Peach Blossom, Vanke Baima, Hushan in sight, Haihai Bay, Repulse Bay Garden, Coastal Li Shu, Zhen Shuian, Pujiang Overseas Chinese Town, Aifa Aolang Garden, Shanghai Bay, Holy Land Vera, Changtai Xijiao, Jin Dayuan, Yindu, Long Lake, Longxiu Mountain, Longxiu Mountain, Yuqin Garden, Zhongkai City Light, Yunding Villa, Yunan Green Land, Yipin Mancheng, Binhu County, Hua Ting Capital, Zhujiajiao No.1, Guanting, Four Seasons Imperial Court, Rongxin Platinum Bay, Country Garden, Sheshan Silver Lake, Zhongbang City Garden, Dongting Yulong, Hongxi County, Contemporary Yishu, Yashixuan, etc
Founder and lead architect of Pills Studio. Associate Professor, Associate Dean, Department of Architecture, Central Academy of Fine Arts. Visiting Professor, School of Architecture, Syracuse University. Master of Architecture, Princeton University. He was a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts of Beijing Film Academy and an open course instructor at the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University. Member of the American Institute of Architects and the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts. He has won the Academic Committee Award of the 2019 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Architecture Biennale and the First Prize of the FAIRYTALES 2015 International Architecture Competition. He has served as the architectural history consultant of the director group of Jiang Wen's film "Evil does not suppress righteousness. His works are exhibited in Venice International Architecture Biennale, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Architecture Biennale, China Contemporary Architecture Image Exhibition, National Art Exhibition, Shanghai Urban Space Art Season, etc. His works have been exhibited in the National Architecture Museum in Washington, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai OCAT, Beijing Modern Automobile Art Center and other institutions, and have been collected by Shenzhen Pingshan Art Museum, Shanzhongtian Art Museum, X Museum and other institutions.
Conceptual design, rendering production, and on-site construction coordination.
At the age of 14, he went to study in the United States and graduated from Columbia University with the highest undergraduate honors—SUMMA CUM LAUDE—earning a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with DISTINCTION, the highest distinction of PHI BETA KAPPA, and the CENTENNIAL SCHOLAR lifetime honor. His major was architecture, with minors in art history and physics. Subsequently, he was admitted to Harvard University with the highest honors and earned a four-year Master of Architecture degree. As a key recipient of Harvard’s Peter Rice Fellowship, in 2010 he was appointed as the sole visiting researcher and dispatched to Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), where he contributed to the research and design of Norway’s National Museum of Art, Pirelli’s global headquarters, and industrial parks. He previously served as a Project Architect at Foster + Partners and as the firm’s China Desk Director in New York, playing a key role in the design of landmark projects including the United Nations Plaza Tower in New York, the Hearst Corporation Headquarters in New York, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Headquarters in London, the Volvo U.S. Corporate Headquarters and Industrial Park, and the Rosario Urban Complex and Cultural‑Industry Park in Argentina. Both Piano and Foster are Pritzker Prize laureates. He has previously served as a visiting and distinguished professor at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Hong Kong. Currently a specially recruited talent, he teaches at Zhejiang University, serves as a thesis advisor for the School of Architecture at the China Academy of Art, and holds a research position at the Center for Research in Contemporary Calligraphy. He is also pursuing a doctoral degree in architecture under the tutelage of Pritzker Prize laureate Wang Shu. He has participated in two art exhibitions curated by the renowned calligrapher Professor Wang Dongling—“Ta Miao Dao Xiang” in 2017 and “OCAT Bamboo Path” in 2018—serving as the exhibition space planner and designer. Qi Shanshan is currently dedicated to examining urban issues in China and engaging in rural practice, reflecting on how to transcend geographical boundaries and contribute Chinese cultural values to the world. Since founding STUDIO QI Architects in 2012, she has served as the chief planner and lead architect of the boutique‑hotel cluster “Sujiji” and as the chief architect of the Songtsam Group. Her work has been recognized with the WAF American Architecture Master Prize, the LEAF International Green Leaf Award, the WA World Architecture Award for Best Residential Design, and the UED China Most Beautiful Homestay Design Award, and she was named one of the Global Top 20 Women Architects in 2018. She firmly believes that architects must possess a strong sense of responsibility and sensitivity. Architects must embrace a profound sense of responsibility and sensitivity; architecture should be a gentle yet powerful force; and, at its core, design is the pursuit of a state of “just right.”
Bachelor of Architecture, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Master of Architectural Urban Design, School of Design and Research, Harvard University; has practiced in many architectural firms in the United States and Europe. DnA _Design and Architecture Architectural Design Office was founded by Xu Tiantian in Beijing in 2002. Since its establishment, the studio has been invited to participate in relevant professional activities such as the German Architecture Museum's Contemporary Chinese Architecture Exhibition and the 2008 UCCA-AAC Beijing Forum. It won the "WA China Architecture Award" in 2006 and 2008, and was selected as a design pioneer by 2008 architectural firm selected by the American Urban Design Committee and New York Architectural Record in 2009; xu Tiantian, the founder of the firm, was selected as the British <Architecture Review> International Young Architect Award and the new york Architecture Alliance Young Architect Award in 2008. In 2009, he was selected as the world's 20 most influential young architects by ICON magazine. In 2010, he was selected as the Chinese Young Architect Award for the China Architecture Media Award. Since 2014, DnA Office has been committed to rural construction in China, intervening and repairing the local rural environment with acupuncture-style small public buildings, renewing the context and stimulating the follow-up development. In October 2021, DnA Architects won the Fassa Bortolo International Sustainable Building Award for its "Tofu Workshop" by the School of Architecture of the University of Ferrara in Italy and Fassa S.r.l. Up to now, 17 projects published by DnA on gooood have received wide attention and praise.
