LONDON
For nearly five decades, the name above the door was the whole brand. Zaha Hadid Architects didn't just describe a firm — it described an aesthetic, a swagger, a particular kind of swooping, gravity-defying concrete that made its founder the most recognizable architect of her generation. This week, that name disappeared. The London-based practice has rebranded as ZHA, dropping "Zaha Hadid" from its identity for the first time since 1979 — a change wrapped in a bitter legal fight, millions in licensing fees, and a decade-old question about who owns a dead architect's legacy.
A Decade-Long Fight Over a Name
The rebrand is the endpoint of a court battle running since Hadid's death in 2016. A 2013 licensing agreement required the firm to keep her name and pay six percent of annual revenue to the Zaha Hadid Foundation — generating roughly £21.4 million between 2018 and 2024 alone. Patrik Schumacher, Hadid's successor, challenged the deal. A High Court judge disagreed in 2024, but this past February, the Court of Appeal overruled: Justice Colin Birss gave Schumacher a choice — renegotiate terms with the foundation, or change the studio's name.
Schumacher Chooses the Name Change
He chose the name. This week, the practice formally became ZHA, with a new logo, new website, and a statement framing it as evolution: "Going forward, we will be known as ZHA, marking the evolution of our practice... an employee-owned, interdisciplinary collective."
"This is 10 years after Zaha's passing. We feel it's very natural — a natural brand evolution — to move to a more collective identity." — Patrik Schumacher
The Symbolism Is the Real Story
Architecture critics have been blunt: for the first time, the practice's identity is untethered from the woman who built it. Hadid, the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize solo, carried real commercial weight long after her death precisely because clients bought into her singular reputation. Stripping that name now reads as the formal end of an era — more than a routine corporate rebrand.
Zaha Hadid
Business as Usual, Sort Of
Operationally, little changes. ZHA remains active across six continents with roughly 100 projects in progress. But the fight may not be over: the foundation could still pursue a Supreme Court appeal, meaning the legal battle over the name and money may have another chapter yet.
What This Means for You
You don't need to follow architecture closely to find the tension relatable: what happens to a brand, a body of work, or a legacy once the person who built it is gone? ZHA's very public, very expensive answer offers a case study in how that question gets resolved when money, law, and grief collide.
The buildings aren't going anywhere — the swooping concrete and unmistakable silhouettes will keep rising on six continents. What's changed is who gets credit on the door, and after a decade of legal wrangling, that turned out to be the hardest design problem the practice has had to solve.
