BOOK:Breaking Ground-Phaidon Publications

“Would they still call me a diva if I were a man?’ asked Zaha Hadid, challenging as she did so more than a century of stereotypes about female architects. In the same spirited approach, “Breaking Ground” by Phaidon Publications is a pioneering visual manifesto of more than 200 incredible buildings designed by women all over the world. Featuring twentieth-century icons such as Julia Morgan, Eileen Gray and Lina Bo Bardi, and the best contemporary talent, from Kazuyo Sejima to Elizabeth Diller and Grafton Architects, this book is, above all else, a ground-breaking celebration of extraordinary architecture. Within its red-and-orange covers, the book brings together, in a starkly consistent format, completed buildings by women spanning more than a century. Arranged alphabetically by the architect’s last name, the entries each provide a photograph or two of a building, and a short biography of the structure’s architect, presenting the 180-plus projects as a diverse but united front.-Dimitris Lempesis