A view of Zaha Hadid?s 2000 competition proposal for the Grande Bibliothèque de Québec in Montreal. Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.
Zaha Hadid?s unexpected death at the end of March sent shockwaves through the global architectural community. Only 65 and at the head of a thriving global practice, Hadid suffered a heart attack while being treated for bronchitis at a Miami hospital.
On two occasions, Canada came close to having a Hadid design?she was on the shortlist for the Grande Bibliothèque du Québec in Montreal (2000) and the Edmonton Art Gallery (2005).
For the Montreal Library, Hadid and Quebec City firm Boutin Ramoisy Tremblay proposed a series of sculptural, swooping forms that traced pathways through the interior. Horizontal aluminum slats would have clad the glazed façades, bringing the sense of dynamism from inside to out. The linear, layered drawings strongly recall Hadid?s MAXXI Museum in Rome, designed around the same time. Hadid?s entry received an honourable mention from the jury. They wrote that they were ?particularly impressed by Hadid?s work in opening new ways of understanding a library, proposing pathways of knowledge that become an invitation to an adventurous journey and the discovery of new spaces.? They added, ?The model reveals a dimensionally rich urban sculpture composed of original forms, with a strong metaphoric character, fluidity and lush interior spaces.?
?The ?Bilbao Effect? was in the air,? recalls Phyllis Lambert. ?Hopes hung on Z...