Crest, London Design Festival - Zaza Hadid

Zaha Hadid's Crest debuts at London Design Festival

Dubai hotel commission will preview outside the V&A next month before travelling to the UAE

Zaha Hadid has designed the showcase item for this year's London Design Festival at the site of the Victoria & Albert Museum.  Hadid's Crest installation - commissioned by ME by Meliá Hotels International to mark the 2016 launch of their Hadid-designed ME Dubai hotel - will hover over the pond in the V&A's John Madejski garden between September 13-21.

"We envisaged a piece that would emerge from the fountain at the centre of the pool," Hadid says. "The metallic surface will reflect the sky on one side and the rippling water on the underside."

 

Crest - Zaha Hadid
Crest - Zaha Hadid

The precision engineered aluminium piece will eventually be transported to Dubai where it will reside in the hotel's garden.

Once reinstalled, Hadid says the piece will continue "to explore the relationships between fluid and Cartesian, solid and void, surface and structure inherent within the hotel's design."

 

Dubai Atrium - Zaha Hadid
Dubai Atrium - Zaha Hadid

As previoulsy reported, the 100-room hotel will feature four penthouse suites with private roof terraces and restaurant, all designed by the architect.

"We're excited that this spectacular piece of public art will launch ME Dubai," Mr Escarrer, CEO of Meliá Hotels International said. "The ME brand is centered on culture and design and this continues our series of renowned collaborative partnerships." The company opened a Foster + Partners' designed ME in London last year."

You can see more great Zaha Hadid structures at her practice page in Phaidon's online Atlas. You can sign up for a free trial for the Atlas here

 

Dubai Cafe- Zaha Hadid
Dubai Cafe- Zaha Hadid