Zaha Hadid on Architecture

“Architecture is a fantastic profession, it’s really difficult. . . . Maybe one has to work on making it easier.” In an almost unbearably candid interview, Zaha Hadid speaks frankly about the challenges of practicing architecture, which she finds to be both inherently prejudiced and weak. There still exists an asymmetric relationship between male and female architects, Hadid says, while the field in general can never achieve the autonomy granted to the other arts, whose practitioners, unlike architects, are not entirely reliant on an outside entity (a client) to realize work. Referring to the profession and the pressures involved in running one of the most acclaimed offices of her generation, Hadid describes her experiences in architecture as “incredibly inventive and it’s very exciting, but it’s very, very demanding,” even, “too painful.”