Even stranger, perhaps, was the appearance of a suited Norman Foster wearing virtual reality goggles. What was going on?
The nonagenarian architect, it turns out, was visualising what his proposal for the memorial honouring the late monarch, featuring a bronze statue of Elizabeth by sculptor Martin Jennings, might look like.
A practice spokesperson told The Times: ‘The exercise has been vital in helping us develop and refine the proposals for the memorial.’
Fosters’ memorial, gardens and a tiara-inspired bridge are scheduled to complete in 2028.
Zaha Hadid’s name and reputation live on
Neither business nor architecture should be popularity contests. Even so, it is difficult to ignore the awkward contrast between two very different recent Instagram posts.
In June, ZHA principal Patrik Schumacher took to the platform to explain how ‘proud and excited’ he was to be dropping the name of founder, global icon and Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid from the practice’s name (now just ZHA). By the start of this month, the post had attracted more than 8,000 likes.
Unfortunately for the rebrand, it was outperformed by a short reel from a Swiss architecture graduate known as fraulein_architektin, who sang about wanting to be none other than ‘the next Zaha Hadid’.
In the video, which has attracted 14,000 likes, the Baghdad-born architect is held up as the graduate’s great inspiration: a world-changing figure whose legacy still looms large over the profession.
The punchline, after five years of study and no shortage of ambition, is that the would-be Zaha still finds herself ‘drawing toilets’.