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Architecture · Contemporary

David Adjaye

born 1966 · Ghanaian-British

Contemporary — material and light, with African and diasporic reference

Born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents and trained in London, Adjaye made his name with small, inventive London houses and public libraries before winning the commission for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture on the Mall in Washington. He was knighted in 2017 and awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2021. In July 2023 the Financial Times published allegations of sexual misconduct by three women who had worked with him; he denied misconduct while acknowledging relationships that blurred professional boundaries, and stepped down from several public roles. He continues to practise.

How to spot them

  • ▸Dark, saturated materials — bronze-coated aluminium, blackened timber, charred and pigmented concrete
  • ▸Perforated and latticed screens that filter daylight into an interior of deliberate darkness
  • ▸Forms and patterns drawn from West African craft and from the material history of the African diaspora
  • ▸Quiz clue: 'the corona', 'Idea Store', 'Ghanaian-British', 'Royal Gold Medal 2021'

Key buildings

A 2016 Washington museum whose three-tiered inverted pyramid of bronze-coloured aluminium lattice rises beside the Washington Monument, its filigree recalling ironwork made by enslaved craftsmen (2016)

National Mall, Washington, D.C.

The crown, or 'corona', takes its profile from a Yoruba caryatid figure; the museum opened in September 2016

A brightly striped glazed library and learning centre in Whitechapel, its escalator pulled to the pavement edge so shoppers step straight in from the market (2005)

Whitechapel Road, Tower Hamlets, London

The Idea Stores at Whitechapel and Chrisp Street — libraries rebranded to draw in non-users

A 2007 east London arts centre in a dark, textured concrete-and-glass box, whose window pattern is drawn from a Yoruba divination board (2007)

Shoreditch, London

Rivington Place, home to Autograph and Iniva — said to be the first new public gallery built in London since the Hayward

A 2005 Oslo conversion of a disused railway station into a museum for a peace prize, with a shimmering 'wallpaper' of LED screens (2005)

Oslo, Norway

The Nobel Peace Center, in the former Vestbanen station

A 2007 Denver art museum in dark grey translucent glass, one of the first American buildings to be certified for its sustainability at the highest level (2007)

Denver, Colorado

MCA Denver — his first completed building in the United States

A 2019 Texan gallery clad in crimson pre-cast panels flecked with mica, built to hold one collector's legacy (2019)

San Antonio, Texas

Ruby City, realising a sketch by the artist and collector Linda Pace

Quick-fire facts

  • •Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 22 September 1966, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat; he studied at South Bank Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art
  • •He founded Adjaye Associates in 2000; earlier London houses such as Elektra House and Dirty House made his reputation
  • •He was appointed OBE in 2007, knighted in 2017, and awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2021 at a ceremony that included a tribute from Barack Obama
  • •The Washington museum was designed by the Freelon Adjaye Bond / SmithGroup team, with Adjaye as lead designer and Philip Freelon as architect of record
  • •He curated the Ghana Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Architecture Biennale and designed the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg
  • •With Ron Arad he designed the proposed UK Holocaust Memorial beside the Houses of Parliament, a scheme long delayed by planning and legal challenge
  • •In July 2023 the Financial Times reported allegations of sexual misconduct from three women who had worked with him; he said he 'absolutely rejects' the claims of misconduct but accepted that he had entered into consensual relationships that blurred professional and personal boundaries
  • •Following the reports he stepped down as a design advocate for the Mayor of London, as a Serpentine Galleries trustee and from the Studio Museum in Harlem project, and his role on the UK Holocaust Memorial was suspended
  • •He remains in practice through Adjaye Associates, with offices in London, New York and Accra

Drill it — 7 cards

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Sources