2007: Zaha Hadid

Architect Zaha Hadid was awarded the first London Design Medal in the same year as she created the Size + Matter installation Urban Nebula. Then London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, presented Hadid with the medal in a ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall. 

Hadid has defined a radical new approach to architecture, creating buildings with complex geometries that seem to morph and evolve as we move through them. A unique and hugely respected figure in the world of contemporary architecture, Zaha Hadid is one of the youngest ever winners of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, and the first - and only - woman ever to receive the honour (the highest in architecture).

Born in Baghdad in 1950, she gained a degree in mathematics from the American University in Beirut before moving to London in 1972 to study at the Architecture Association School, winning the school's Diploma Prize in 1977.

Her innovative, convention-breaking creations span the entire spectrum of design, from large-scale urban architecture to interiors, furniture and exhibition spaces, and have graced cities around the globe, winning her a plethora of awards and prizes.

Among her best known projects are the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany, the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, USA and the Hoenheim Nord Terminus in Strasbourg, France. Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre is a centrepiece of the 2012 London Olympics park.