This week, Zaha Hadid won the RIBA Gold Medal and defended her “misunderstood” architecture

This week on Dezeen: Zaha Hadid became the first woman to be awarded the RIBA Gold Medal this week and used the illustrious occasion to defend her architecture, which she believes is “widely misunderstood” by the mainstream.

Addressing an audience during her Royal Gold Medal lecture, the Iraqi-born British architect rejected claims that her work is self-indulgent and wilful.

Jane Duncan, the Royal Institute of British Architects’ president, said the body had acted “to right a 180-year wrong” by giving its highest honour to a woman for the first time.

In other news, taxi service Uber launched a new identity that was designed by the company’s CEO and Renzo Piano’s controversial proposal for a 72-storey skyscraper in London was withdrawn.

Bjarke Ingels’ firm released images of its design for a police station in New York, days before the Danish architect claimed his Copenhagen housing development succeeded where Alison and Peter Smithson’s “streets in the sky” concept had failed.

BIG, OMA and Zaha Hadid Architects were all shortlisted for a major new museum in Budapest, and a team from MIT won a competition to design a bullet-shaped capsule for the Hyperloop – a high-speed transport network first conceived by billionaire Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk.

We also published the world’s first 3D-printed steel bicycle and a proposal for the world’s largest waste-to-energy plant.

American toy maker Mattel revealed several new versions of the Barbie doll designed to reflect more diverse body shapes, and the DeLorean Motor Company publicised its intention to manufacturer the iconic DMC-12 sports car again.

Bradford Shellhammer announced that his online design store Bezar had been acquired by internet marketplace Ahalife and spoke to Dezeen about the financial difficulties of setting up an online business.

In other business news, startup furniture brand Hem was obtained by a private buyer.

Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby joined the teaching staff at Parsons design school in New York, after leaving London’s Royal College of Art last year, while Archigram’s founder Peter Cook told us that narrow-mindedness in schools had led to a dull period in British architecture.

Popular stories this week on Dezeen included a residential building made up of tiny and low-cost apartments in New York, a concert hall in Poland and a revamped Melbourne house featuring a floor that doubles as a toybox.

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