The Foundation

10 Bowling Green Lane, 2026 © Studio KA, photograph by Fred Howarth

The Foundation perpetuates Zaha’s legacy as a living one, bringing to light new insights into her life and work while advancing her visionary ethos by supporting current and future generations.

Our mission is twofold: to carry forward Zaha’s legacy and, in her spirit, actively contribute to architecture and design culture today. In doing so, we champion experimentation, collaboration and cross-disciplinary thinking in everything we do.

What We Do

Drawing Matter Summer School at the Zaha Hadid Foundation, 2025 © Anna-Rose McChesney

At the heart of our work is the care of Zaha’s extensive archive, consisting of approximately 300,000 items ranging from paintings, models and sketches to correspondence and personal effects.

We preserve, research and activate this collection, bringing it to life through exhibitions, scholarship and public programming.

Zaha was a passionate educator, and we continue that commitment through programmes spanning youth initiatives to university scholarships. We facilitate grants, platform contemporary practitioners and organise residencies for emerging talents. As a dynamic cultural hub and a node within global networks, we emphasise collaboration in gathering leading thinkers, professionals and publics around forward-looking ideas.

Director Aric Chen speaking at the Zaha Hadid Foundation panel talk at the Serpentine Pavilion, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Sam Sorjabee
Jaap Bakema Study Centre, Architecture Archives of the Future, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2023 © Zaha Hadid Foundation
Learning Officer Wilson at RIBA Family Fun Day, London, United Kingdom, 2025 © RIBA
Drawing Matter Summer School at Zaha Hadid Foundation, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Anna-Rose McChesney
Talk with Holcim at the Zaha Hadid Foundation, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Anna-Rose McChesney
Photographing the collection, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Fred Howarth

The Foundation works internationally, but is based at two sites in London. Our gallery and cultural space at 10 Bowling Green Lane occupies Zaha’s former office in an 1870s schoolhouse and welcomes all to attend our exhibitions, events and other programmes there. Our Shad Thames site serves primarily as a conservation, storage and research facility for the archive, with access available by appointment.

Our Shad Thames site serves primarily as a conservation, storage and research facility for the archive, with access available by appointment.

Zaha Hadid Design, Z-Chair, 2011 © Zaha Hadid Design, courtesy of Sawaya & Moroni
Zaha Hadid Design, Liquid Glacial Collection, 2012-2017 © Zaha Hadid Design, courtesy of Jacopo Spilimbergo
Zaha Hadid Design, B.zero 1 Collection, 2016 © Zaha Hadid Design, courtesy of Bulgari
Zaha Hadid Design, Seyun Collection, 2021 © Zaha Hadid Design, courtesy of Karimoku
Zaha Hadid Design, Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion, 2011 © Zaha Hadid Design, courtesy of Paul Warchol
Zaha Hadid Design, Aria, 2013 © Zaha Hadid Design, courtesy of Slamp

Today, Zaha Hadid Design, the company Zaha established to create her furniture and object designs, is wholly owned by the Foundation, while the architecture office she founded (formerly known as Zaha Hadid Architects) is an independent entity that operates separately.

Zaha Hadid Design was formally set up by Zaha in 2006, but furniture and object design was integral to her work from her earliest days. Zaha’s vision extended to all scales, and in her lifetime, she and her office collaborated with over 140 brands and manufacturers to produce designs ranging from fashion accessories to tableware, seating, lighting and even concept cars.

Governance

The Foundation is managed and led by a Board of Trustees.

Our Trustees:

Rana Hadid, Chair

Hanif Mohamed Kara OBE

Tala Hadid

Hashim Sarkis

Joseph Hage is an official advisor to the Board of Trustees

Zaha Hadid Foundation is a registered charity, number 1152943. The organisation complies with all regulations, terms and conditions of its charitable status.

Team

Zaha Hadid Foundation collection, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Fred Howarth

Our team brings together expertise in the care and interpretation of the archive, collection-based research, public and educational programmes, and the development of exhibitions.

Aric Chen

Director

Olga Tenisheva

Deputy Director

Helen Merrett

Head of Collections

Lydia Powell

Conservator

Phil Sofer

Art Handling & Technical Manager

Dr Catherine Howe

Senior Researcher & Curatorial Lead

Ajeng Hendriati

Collections Coordinator

Jennifer Hicks

Collections Coordinator

Dr Jihane Dyer

Researcher

Francesco Fiammenghi

Researcher

Wilson Yau

Learning Officer

Jessica Piper

Head of Film and Media

Serena Lawrance

Communications Officer

Jennifer Schussler

Head of Administration & Office Manager

Albino Dos Ramos Paulino

Head of Facilities

Rosie Veale

Finance Officer

Our Sites

The Zaha Hadid Foundation operates across two sites in London, each with a distinct character, history and purpose.

Serving as the Foundation’s headquarters, the Victorian school building at 10 Bowling Green Lane that was Zaha’s longtime office is now the Foundation’s public gallery and cultural space. The other building, open only by appointment, is at Shad Thames, in a converted riverside warehouse that previously housed London’s Design Museum.

Bowling Green Lane

Over more than three decades, Zaha grew her office from a single room in this former Victorian schoolhouse into a global architecture firm.

Located in the heart of Clerkenwell’s design district, 10 Bowling Green Lane is the Foundation’s headquarters and public gallery.

Designed by E.R. Robson, possibly in collaboration with J.J. Stevenson, for the School Board for London, it opened in the early 1870s as an elegantly restrained, yellow stock-brick structure with red-brick accents and stone details. The building’s round-arched windows, pedimented gables, Welsh-slate roof and separate boys’ and girls’ entrances can still be seen today.

BGL Over the Years
The current building at 10 Bowling Green Lane is constructed in the Queen Anne style, a departure from the Gothic Revival period, as the Bowling Green Lane Board School (officially dated 1874).
The school becomes part of the larger Hugh Myddelton School, opened nearby.
10 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, 1992 © Thomas Mayer Archive
The school is closed as a result of shifting demographics and educational restructuring.
10 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, 1992 © Thomas Mayer Archive
Single and two-storey rear extensions on the south block are demolished, and a rear single-storey extension is added. It remains to this day (currently serving as the Foundation's Lecture Hall). The building is reopened as artists' studios and workshops.
Studio 9, 10 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, 1992 © Thomas Mayer Archive
In May, Zaha’s fledgling architectural office moves into Studio 9 at 10 Bowling Green Lane. Previously, much of the firm’s work had been done from Zaha’s home. Everything from experimental drawings to early digital work will take place under this roof.
10 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, 2011 © Giovanna Silva
Zaha Hadid Architects expands into several other studios in the building.
Zaha Hadid Architects, Extension of Bowling Green Lane, Model, 2010 © Zaha Hadid Foundation
The office purchases and occupies the entire building complex, which includes a separate caretaker's cottage.
Zaha Hadid Architects, Exhibition at Goswell Road, London, United Kingdom, 2015 © Zaha Hadid Foundation
At the height of the COVID pandemic, the architecture office relocates to nearby sites on Goswell Road and Compton Court.
10 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Studio KA, photograph by Fred Howarth
The building becomes home to the Zaha Hadid Foundation as the Foundation becomes fully operational. In the ensuing years, the Foundation will host talks, workshops, learning programmes and several exhibitions in the building.
10 Bowling Green Lane, London, United Kingdom, 2026 © Studio KA, photograph by Fred Howarth
Marking the Foundation's latest chapter, the building reopens as a public gallery and cultural space after a renovation by architecture firm Studio KA.

Shad Thames

Aquired by Zaha in 2013, this landmark building overlooking the Thames is now a conservation, research and storage facility for Zaha’s archive.

Zaha purchased the building in 2013, the year she also established the Foundation, intending to exhibit and store her archives there and to build a home for herself atop it. Her unexpected passing in 2016 paused these plans, and today the building serves as the Foundation’s primary conservation and storage facility (accessible by appointment).

The building was built in the 1940s as a banana-ripening warehouse serving Butler’s Wharf. In the 1980s, it underwent a radical overhaul that gave it the International Style exterior that it retains today as Sir Terence Conran and others transformed the building into a new home for the Design Museum. The latter occupied the site from 1989 until 2016.

Careers

Visit Us

Based in Clerkenwell, London, the Zaha Hadid Foundation regularly presents exhibitions, talks and programmes that are open to the public. See What’s On for current programmes.

Opening hours:

Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 - 18:00

Zaha Hadid Foundation, 10 Bowling Green Lane, London, EC1R 0BQ