5 Iconic Creations by Zaha Hadid, the Mind Behind Navi Mumbai Airport

The late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid transformed the way people see buildings. Her firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, is now leading the design of Navi Mumbai International Airport. Her projects were never static; they seemed to move, curve, and reach outward. She was fascinated by geometry that felt alive, both unpredictable and precise. Each of her buildings carries its own rhythm, blending engineering and emotion to reshape the cities around them.

Exploring five landmark works of Zaha Hadid architects

Guangzhou Opera House, China (2010)
Set beside the Pearl River, the Guangzhou Opera House looks as if the wind sculpted it. Two angular shells meet to form the theatre and foyer, joined by paths that weave around the site. The façade, a pattern of glass and granite, catches the river light and gives the building a shifting character through the day. Inside, the movement continues — curved walls and stairs pull visitors toward the main hall without a straight sight line.

Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan (2012)
In Baku, Hadid replaced the idea of a box-like civic building with something that feels drawn by hand. The Heydar Aliyev Centre rises from the ground in a single flowing gesture. Every surface bends or folds into another. There’s no obvious front or back; the building changes as you walk around it. Inside, daylight moves freely, softening the edges and making the vast interior feel calm and continuous.

Riverside Museum, Glasgow, UK (2011)
On the River Clyde, Hadid gave Glasgow a museum that talks to its setting. The roof folds like a paper wave, recalling the city’s shipbuilding past. The glass façade reflects the water and sky, so the structure never looks quite the same twice. Visitors move through the displays on ramps that rise and turn, echoing the sense of travel that defines the collection.

London Aquatics Centre, UK (2012)
For the London Olympics, Hadid imagined a swimming venue shaped by water itself. The roof curves low at the edges, lifting in the centre as if in mid-swell. The space underneath feels bright and open, built around the motion of sport rather than the spectacle of it.

Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Abu Dhabi (2010)
Linking Abu Dhabi’s islands to the mainland, this bridge reads like a piece of landscape art. The steel arches undulate across the horizon, mirroring the desert dunes nearby. At night, its subtle lighting gives it the look of a slow-moving wave.

Hadid’s buildings rarely stand still; they guide people through them. The Navi Mumbai Airport follows the same instinct — movement, scale and clarity working together to turn travel into an experience rather than a passage.

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(Written by Esha Aphale)