Generally, Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid deals in organic forms more amoebic than botanic.

The Guangzhou Municipal Government’s brief for a new opera house was ambitious: the building had to be able to host Chinese and Western operas of the highest caliber, as well as be a welcoming civic center, open and accessible to all.

Set back from the road, Zaha Hadid's Evelyn Grace Academy in South London zigzags across its small site with jagged angles of bare concrete, glass, and silver-spray-painted aluminum.

Twirl, an installation by Zaha Hadid Architects on display for two weeks during the 50th anniversary of the Milan Furniture Fair in April, was intended to be a contemporary interpretation of the State University of Milan’s 18th-century courtyard.

Turn the clock back to 1999 and you find Zaha Hadid and her partner Patrik Schumacher working on a critical set of projects, four of which (including MAXXI) eventually got built and two that never moved off the page or computer screen.

In Rome, history flows through every urban artery, providing a strong pulse to obscure outposts and tourist destinations alike.