Zaha Hadid Ponders Return to Baghdad

By John Lee.

The Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid has said that her work on a new Central Bank of Iraq headquarters is progressing. She was asked to build the new bank after a 2010 suicide attack on the existing building.

But will she return to Iraq for the first time since 1980?

She told Bloomberg:

“I would like to go ... It’s very difficult emotionally for me, because I have no family there anymore. The last time I was there, my parents were alive; they were there.

“Also, I cannot go for just three days ... The few people left I might know, I would like to see -- my aunt and uncles are in the north.”

(Source: Bloomberg)