Architect Zaha Hadid dies of heart attack

Internationally renowned Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, whose designs included the London Aquatics Centre used in the 2012 summer Olympics, has died, Iraqi state television said on Thursday. She was 65.

Hadid became the first woman to scoop the top British architecture prize last September. Previous winners of the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) include Frank Gehry, Norman Foster and Frank Lloyd Wright.

“I am very proud to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal, in particular to be the first woman to receive the honour in her own right,” she said at the time.

Hadid is best known for buildings including the Guangzhou Opera House in China, the Vitra Fire Station in Germany and the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales.

She opened her own practice in London in 1979 and in 2004 she became the first female recipient of the Pritzker, considered the equivalent of the Nobel prize for architecture.