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| Icone Series Bag For Louis Vuitton |
Crevasse Vases For Alessi |
A major retrospective on the works of Zaha Hadid Architects is taking place within the salone of Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy. The exhibition examines the practice’s continued experimentation and research into digital design and construction methods at the cutting edge of the industry.
To coincide with the exhibition, Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a 20 metre long wooden table with seating for Cavour Square in Padua.
Product designs include some of Hadid’s most notable pieces and examine the diversity of her work including Mesa Table for Vitra, Genesy Lamp for Artemide, Aqua Table for Established & Sons, Melissa Shoes, sofas for Sawaya & Moroni and B&B Italia, and Louis Vuitton’s Icone bag. Many of these pieces are now exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide and have become collectors’ pieces alongside design classics from previous centuries.
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| Scoop Sofa For Sawaya & Moroni |
Mesa Table for Vitra |
The salone of Palazzo della Ragione (constructed 1172-1219) is considered one of the most notable monuments in Padua. Its medieval roof remains amongst the largest in Europe unsupported by columns, whilst the frescoes that adorn the interior walls date from 1425. As with each of her projects, Hadid has organized this exhibition as a direct response to its environment within the salone, articulating the inherent contextual relationships of her work. The historic qualities of the space presented an exacting design challenge for Hadid. The exhibition design respects these spatial and contextual characteristics whilst also intervening in the unique manner of Hadid's digital, liquid fluidity. Conceived as an interior urban landscape, the exhibition should be considered as a large scale installation; a pixilated field defined by algorithmic formulae that introduce complexity and generate an interior urban condition. Space has been organized as a single fluid landscape with connecting individual fragments and clusters.
Zaha Hadid
Exhibition from October 27 2009 to March 1 2010
Palazzo della Ragione, Padua
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LeeAnn, on December 8: 
Andrew Cooper, 3 days ago: 
Thanks for posting, I am more and more appreciatve of
Hadids' work, some of her earlier computer designed
efforts were quite akward and a bit lazy but I think she
or her assistants (?) are being a bit more restrained now and
the forms are more elegant. Its easy to critisize star
architects but at least her work is exciting and lively, the computer offers almost too much potential and can leave a designer
a bit bamboozled. I'd like to ser her work in the flesh but
also on a smaller scale using older technoligies like bronze
casting.
But I do have to say her website is one of the most poorly
designed I've ever tried to navigate.