Last Thursday John and I visited an exhibition of the designs of one of our favourite contemporary architects, Zaha Hadid, in the courtyard of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World)
The Institute itself was designed by French architect, Jean Nouvel, featuring walls of windows inspired by Arabic design.
Hadid designed an organically-inspired pavilion to house her exhibition. It sits like a spaceship in the courtyard.
The playful interior of the pavilion displays models and videos of Hadid's designs. Some are models of actual buildings, some are purely visionary exercises.
We find her work endlessly fascinating as is the design of the pavilion.
Her use of organic forms is fresh and original.
Sometimes it's difficult to imagine her proposals really being constructed. However, having seen her design for the new Museum for Art and Architecture of the 21st Century (MAXXI) in Rome last year, we know that she is not just a visionary.
We can only hope that more of her designs are built.
The exhibition ends with a model for the pavilion itself. If you visit Paris before October 30th, 2011, we strongly recommend visiting Zaha Hadid: Une Architecture.
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