id50 2025- Zaha Hadid Architects

What are the latest exciting projects that you are working on that will come to life in the near future?

Completing soon, The Henderson, creates an urban oasis in the centre of Hong Kong by sheltering new civic plazas. The 36-storey tower will be a striking addition to the city skyline with a 4-ply, double laminated insulated glass façade which has been designed to provide the highest thermal performance and withstand the region’s powerful summer typhoons. The building incorporates numerous state of the art design features such as a smart management system which creates a contactless pathway for occupants, air quality monitoring systems, and a Sky Garden outdoor recreational space with aquaponics planting network that acts as a biological air-purifying filter.

Please mention some of your latest projects/ achievements as a firm

This month, the Romeo Roma Hotel in Italy opened, part of The Romeo Collection. The hotel is a conversion of Palazzo Capponi with its core dating from the 16th century, including wings added by the previous tenants INAIL in 1950s, remodelling its interiors when converting to offices. With little original interiors remaining, the client continued tradition custodians of Italy’s grand buildings have followed for centuries—commissioning pioneering architect Zaha Hadid and her team at ZHA to create captivating interiors showcasing the expertise of skilled craftsmen working in the finest materials.

The Riyadh Metro opened in December 2024 and the King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station by ZHA serves as the key interchange on the network. Contributing to the identity of Riyadh’s new metro system, the KAFD Metro Station’s design prioritizes connectivity. The station’s predicted rail, car and pedestrian traffic has been modelled, mapped and structured to optimize internal circulation and avoid congestion. Achieving LEED Gold certification, the station provides optimal comfort at minimum energy demand, combining effective passive design features with a high-efficiency cooling system that is powered by renewables.

Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre Photography by Virgile Simon Bertrand

Designed as a creative hub within one of the world’s most dynamic regions, the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre integrates three distinct cultural institutions for the city; a Performing Arts Centre with a 1200-seat Grand Theatre and a 500-seat Black Box theatre; a Science Centre; and an Art Museum. Each venue within the centre incorporates unique characteristics, yet all are united by formal and structural logic. The latticed steel canopies sheltering each venue are configured through repetition, symmetry and scale variation, optimising pre-fabrication, pre-assembly and modular construction. The centre’s landscaping and lake are integral elements of Zhuhai’s ‘sponge city’ initiative that targets the natural permeation, storage and re-use of 70% of the city’s rainwater using aquatic flora to naturally filter contaminants. Located in southern China’s subtropical climate, the double-insulated glazing of the building’s envelope is optimised for thermal performance and protected by the roof canopy which incorporates perforated aluminium panels for solar shading.