Business POV

Zola was born in Croatia, moved to London and now dwells here running her own architecture firm. She's working on several state-of-the-art projects, including a zero-energy house and new city zoning laws that maximize the land and up the "green" factor. Also a welcomed addition to Chicago, this mecca of modern, is the house pictured above, which was built for her first Chicago client: her husband. The abode — aka the Pfanner House — won the Home of the Year 2003 Award (of North America) by Architecture magazine.

FROM HER OFFICIAL BIO; Zoka Zola was born in Rijeka, Croatia. She studied architecture at Zagreb University in Croatia and at the Architectural Association in London. Zoka holds a Masters of Architecture degree. In 1990, she received the RIBA Student Award. She worked for a number of the well known studios: David Chipperfield Architects, Sir Michael Hopkins + Partners, OMA in London; Prof. Vittorio De Feo, Prof. Francesco Cellini, Prof. Paolo Portoghesi in Rome; and Prof Wilhelm Holzbauer in Vienna. Qualified as an architect in the UK in 1990, Zoka established her own studio in London. In 1995, she received the Young Architect of the Year Award, an annual award to one individual, in the UK. During her years in London, she also taught architecture as a Senior Lecturer at the Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, and she was a Unit Master at the Architectural Association in London. In 1997, Zoka moved to Chicago where she first worked at De Stefano and Partners and started teaching at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Later, Zoka established her own studio in Chicago and designed her own house, completed in July 2002, which won the Home of the Year Award as the best home in North America. Over the years she continues to be a guest lecturer at many universities nationally and internationally.

Find out more about Zola by visiting her website

More pictures of the house above can be found here