Here’s What Zaha Hadid Said About the Future of Architecture

Visionary architect Zaha Hadid, who died at the age of 65 on Tuesday, had a bold vision for the future of building. She was named one of the most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine in its 2010 TIME 100 issue. In 2015, TIME interviewed the TIME 100 alumna about the future of architecture. Hadid said she pictured a world in which architects pursued riskier and more creative designs.

“For excuses that are valid—like the recession—there has been a return to very banal and conservative ideas in architecture,” she said. “It’s not like people will come back in 40 years and say these buildings are terrible. We know that now. And that is a tremendous shame considering the progress we’ve made in terms of ideas and innovation in technology, material, fabrication and construction. I hope this does not have a very negative impact on what the future holds.”

The Iraqi-British architect, known for the London Aquatics Centre, the Guangzhou Opera House in China and the Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in the profession.