A surprise pop-up gallery by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) opened in New York on November 8th highlighting the firm’s scope of work since its beginnings 40 years ago in the 1970s.

Appropriately located in a 2,000 square foot space for art developed by Related Companies at the base of the Zaha Hadid 520 West 28th Street Condo project on the High Line, the exhibition showcases a curated, yet comprehensive overview of the late architect’s work as well as ongoing projects of her eponymous firm.

A large, architectural model of the surrounding building attracts the attention of passersby from the street, but this is quickly upstaged by a nearby series of sculptural ‘Silver Models’—representing such projects as the  Heydar Aliyev Centre (2012) in Azerbaijan—conceived by Hadid for a 2005 exhibition at the ROVE Gallery in London. An adjacent wall features a photographic timeline of built work spanning the decades. Along the back wall, photography by Hélène Binet (presented in conjunction with the ammann//gallery, Cologne) captures the materiality and composition of the Vitra Fire Station (1993) Zaha’s first completed building in Germany and the MAXXI Museum (2009) in Rome.

Throughout her career Zaha Hadid explored design and materiality at all scales, embracing many of the same concepts in furnishings, fashion, and jewelry design, ultimately resulting in Zaha Hadid Design (2006). This relatively young arm of the firm collaborates with manufacturers and craftsmen to produce a range of products. Among those on view here, the Striation rug (from a new collection for Royal Thai) celebrates Hadid’s signature use of layering and play with light and shadow, and the AVIA chandelier for Slamp takes advantage of innovative manufacturing technologies to create a dynamic play of light through 50 intricate polycarbonate layers. An more recent material investigation, the Lapella chair, reinterprets Hans J. Wegner’s 1963 lounge chair using contemporary stone tooling and carbon fiber composites.

Open most Tuesday’s through Fridays from 1pm to 6pm until December (at a date yet to be determined, and with future plans to move it to a space around the corner), the Zaha Hadid Pop-up Gallery is at once, a perfect introduction to the firms work for interested beginners, a welcome reminder of Hadid’s legacy, and an intriguing sales tool to engender the interest of potential clients.  

The pop-up gallery is open at 514 West 28th Street at the High Line until December, from 1pm – 6pm Tuesday to Friday.