A top-heavy, concrete-clad, largely cantilevered building by reigning Queen of the Curve Zaha Hadid recently opened at the American University of Beirut, where Hadid earned both her undergraduate degree in mathematics and one of her many honorary doctorates, and Lebanon's Daily Star reports that the reception has been mixed from students and faculty alike. The first thing that anyone acquainted with the all-white, sci-fi-svelte appearance of her recent designs might notice is that it doesn't look much like them. It's got none of the exoskeletal extravagance of her Macau tower, and looks positively brutalist compared to her upcoming addition to Dubai's skyline, but given that the plan for AUB's Issam Fares Institute was selected by a competition jury all the way back in 2006, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. With Hadid criticism bingo, the "it looks like a spaceship" space is free, but the list of gripes this building has earned is nothing short of robust.

Source: Curbed National