Zaha Hadid - Space for Art: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati - Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art [Hardcover]

Markus Dochantschi (Editor), Joseph Giovannini (Contributor), Charles Desmarais (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

Throughout the built world of late, museums have been leading the way in architecture--a far cry from the days of antiseptic white cubes, when museums were afraid that signature design might compete with the art on display. Some of the most interesting international architects working today, people like Zaha Hadid, Daniel Liebeskind, Renzo Piano, and Tadao Andao, are creating buildings intended to house art--and to function as works of art themselves. One of the most radical and highly anticipated of these structures is Zaha Hadid's Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) for the city of Cincinnati, set to open its doors in 2003. The CAC will be one of the first museums anywhere in the world designed by a woman, as well as Hadid's first museum and first building in the United States. A $15 million project with 20,000 square feet of galleries set on a smallish, 11,000-square-foot lot in the downtown area, it shows that the institution that stood by the Mapplethorpe show has extended its risk-taking attitude and its integrity to the building that will accommodate its future shows. The seven stories of galleries--each constructed in a variety of heights and floor materials--are housed in horizontal tubes and cantilevered toward the street. An "urban carpet" begins at street level and zigzags up the building's supporting wall, providing visual and physical access to each of the galleries in a continuous flow--but without the awkwardness of the tilted ramp that spirals through Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exterior of the building weaves together the concrete shell and metal cladding of the galleries, the glass windows of the offices, and various electronic displays like ahigh-tech quilt--and a perfect expression of the various activities so well-contained within. Space for Art will include broad documentation of all stages of the architectural process, expressed in paintings, drawings, and models; short texts; and photographs of the finished building by Helene Binet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

(Zaha Hadid's) Rosenthal Center is the most important American building to be completed since the end of the cold war. -- The New York Times --- Herbert Muschamp

About the Author

Zaha Hadid, born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1950, began her study of architecture in 1972 at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, and was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977. She then joined the Office of Metropolitan Architectur, began teaching at the AA with Rem Koolhaus and Eliza Senghelis, and later led her own studio at the school. Her winning entry for The Peak Club, Hong Kong, in 1983 was followed by first-place awards in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cardiff, London, Cincinnati, Rome, Salerno, Innsbruck, and Wolfsburg. Completed projects include the Fire Station and LF one in Weil am Rhein, Germany, and the Mind Zone at the Millenium Dome in London. Her most recent installations are Addressing the Century at the Hayward Gallery in London and stage sets for the Pet Shop Boys World Tour and the Charleroi Dance Company in Belgium. Hadid's office is currently working on a variety of projects: a contemporary art center in Rome, a ski jump in Innsbruck, a major bridge structure in Abu Dhabi, and a car park for the Strasbourg Tramway.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers; 1 edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3037780053
• ISBN-13: 978-3037780053
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 8.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #956,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Zaha Hadid - Space for Art, June 24, 2008

By 

Mr. Paul O. Sullivan "POS INK!" (A wee little kingdom called Kerry) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zaha Hadid - Space for Art: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati - Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (Hardcover)

Fantastically unique and genuinely honest inside through the design concepts and completion of the Museum. A great book. Wish there were more like it.

10 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Building and Book, May 7, 2004

By 

Steve (Oakland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zaha Hadid - Space for Art: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati - Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art (Hardcover)

Hadid made her name with slick drawings. As images they can be seductive, but it must be admitted that they have nothing to do with architecture. Hadid's buildings prove the point that her work is not really about architecture or space much as she professes otherwise. Remove her computer graphic program and the you get the crude interpretaion of ideas not fully worked out, passing themselves off as a building. The CAC was designed on screen without any reference to site or context, and it shows. There is no attempt to adress scale (human or urban), and the massing is loud and arrogant. ("Look at Me" - it screams.) Sadly for Cincinatti, they are stuck with this amatuerish and crude building. As for the book, it is predicatable in its praise and cliched in its language. The photos are irritating insofar as they make difficult views more unreadable than they need be. I can't help wondering if this is just a trick that weas deployed because there are no satisfying compositional views within this building that could be taken. Hadid should stick to drawings where she cannot do so much damage to our urban centers.