Zaha Hadid

The Iraqi-British architect was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize (2004), architecture's equivalent of the Nobel, and remains its youngest-ever recipient. Her "parametric" design language — fluid curves, fractal geometries, buildings that seem to defy gravity — was once dismissed as "unbuildable." Signature works include the MAXXI Museum in Rome, the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, and the Guangzhou Opera House, each redefining what concrete and steel can express.