Zaha Hadid used her speech at New London Architecture’s New London Awards to criticise the city for lacking originality in its architecture.
Hadid was accepting her award for New Londoner of the Year at the event when she said: “London has become a great city because it attracts so many different people and talent but this is not matched by the architecture.”
She went on to say the city deserves “great architecture that isn’t modest or polite” and that it needed “radical ideas”.
Peter Murray, chairman of the NLA, had the last word, saying: “Despite what Zaha says I think there are a few things worth celebrating here in London.”
Pringle Richards Sharratt won the main award for its work on the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, SW2, as well as the award for Conservation and Retrofitting.
