Move comes after court decision ending licensing agreement which saw the business pay for right to use Hadid name
Zaha Hadid Architects will now trade under the name ZHA, after the resolution of a court battle over usage of the late architect’s name earlier this year.
The practice has been run by the British-Iraqi architect’s collaborator Patrik Schumacher since her death in 2016 and has continued to use her name under a licensing agreement which required it to pay a portion of its turnover to the Zaha Hadid Foundation.
Over the past several years, the firm has been embroiled in a court battle as it sought to terminate the licensing agreement, which had cost it £21.4m between 2018 and 2024.
In 2024, the High Court ruled against the practice but this was overruled in March this year by the Court of Appeal, which ruled that the agreement could not have been intended as a perpetual arrangement, clearing the way for the business to renegotiate the agreement to change its name.
In an Instagram post published at the weekend, the practice said the name change came “as the final projects led by our founder near completion”.
It was accompanied by a video, in which Schumacher confirmed that the practice would trade as ZHA and be registered as a company under the name ZHA Architects Ltd.
“This is 10 years after Zaha’s passing. We feel it’s a very natural brand evolution to move to a more collective identity,” said Schumacher.
“Of course, we love Zaha and we have been working with her, the leadership and myself, of course for many decades, collaborating and working on these projects but she’s no longer with us - in spirit only - and we have a lot of new projects coming out.”
Schumacher said the practice was “a collective of many talents, with a shared purpose, a shared set of values, and that’s what we want to express”.
He said Hadid had been “the true original pioneer” of a “fluid and adaptive” conception of architecture, adding: “That is where the historical significance of Zaha Hadid and the firm we have built together rests and that’s where we are living and breathing today and pushing to the next stage.”
The company also launched a refreshed website to accompany the new name. It includes a statement explaining that the group had “previously traded under a trade mark licence from the Zaha Hadid Foundation”.
“Following the termination of the licence in 2025 the ZHA Architects Group ceased all use of that trade mark and disclaims any connection with the Foundation,” it added.
The court dispute over the licensing agreement was preceded by a separate legal battle between Schumacher and three other executors for Hadid’s estate – artist Brian Clarke, Lord Palumbo and Rana Hadid, Hadid’s niece.
This acrimonious dispute saw the trio level accusations of governance and personal conduct failings against Schumacher, who in turn accused the other executors of personal animosity.
The dispute, in which Schumacher sought power of veto over the firm’s board of trustees, was ultimately settled out of court in 2020.
The practice was put into the control of a tax-efficient employee-benefit trust (EBT) in December 2021. It employs around 500 staff across the world.
No comments yet