Adjaye Associates: The Latest Architecture and News

Adjaye Associates has unveiled designs for SPYSCAPE, a new museum and interactive experience that illuminates the world of espionage from historical secret intelligence to modern day hacking through a collection of rare artifacts, exhilarating storytelling and immersive personalized experiences.

Located a stone’s throw from Times Square in New York City, the 60,000-square-foot space will use architecture as a key element of the museum experience. Inspired by the spaces occupied by the world’s most significant spy organizations, the building interiors will resemble a small town, with a variety of spaces unfolding beneath a vaulted canopy. Circulation will lead visitors through a wide range of vantage points and perspectives, playing with perceptions and drawing you into the individual pavilions.

The United States Postal Service has released their latest stamp, honoring one of the past year’s most significant architectural works: the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture by Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup.

Designed by art director Antonio Alcalá, the commemorative Forever stamp is based on a photograph taken by Alan Karchmer of the museum, which has welcomed nearly 3 million visitors since its debut in September 2016.

The Design Museum in London has announced the shortlist projects in the running for the 2017 edition of their prestigious Beazley Design of the Year award. Now in its tenth year, the award was established to “celebrate design that promotes or delivers change, enables access, extends design practice or captures the spirit of the year.”

This year, a total of 62 projects have been nominated across six categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Graphics, Product and Transport – including 13 projects from the Architecture category. A winner from each category and the overall winner will be announced on January 25, 2018. Previous winners of the architecture category include: IKEA’s Better Shelter last year (also the overall winner), Alejandro Aravena's UC Innovation Center in 2015, and Zaha Hadid Architects’ Heydar Aliyev Center (overall winner in 2014).

See all of the architecture nominees below.

Detailed visions of the concept designs from the seven shortlisted teams in the running for the new Ross Pavilion (named for William Henry Ross, the former chairman of the Distillers Company) have been released. Following the announcement of the competition earlier this year—in which the likes of Adjaye Associates, Bjarke Ingels Group, Sou Fujimoto Architects and Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter were placed in the running alongside local practices, such as Page\Park—the sensitivity and level of restraint behind the majority of the proposals demonstrates the public and national significance of the site, which sits at the heart of the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.

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Early design studies have been unveiled of Adjaye Associates’ first New York City skyscraper. Developed by the Lightstone Group, the 61-story, 750-foot-tall ‘Wall Street Tower’ will be located at 130 William Street in New York’s Financial District.

Uncovered by CityRealty, these initial visualizations show a gold-detailed structure featuring arched windows that expand as the building rises, and an abundance of luxury amenities including sports facilities, a swimming pool, a movie theater, lounge areas and rooftop observatory.

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Adjaye Associates have announced the design of a new 50,000 square foot library and event center in Winter Park, Florida, which will serve as a new civic hub and will compliment the nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The $30 million building also includes an 8,500 square foot civic center, combining as a manifestation of the city’s aspirations for library services.

“Winter Park’s vision for this project truly embraces the continued evolution of the library in the 21st century,” said Sir David Adjaye. “With a diverse program that recognizes it as a critical piece of cultural infrastructure, this will be a dynamic space for shared education, recreation, and interaction.”

In this series, photographer Julien Lanoo turns his camera toward Adjaye Associates' Aishti Foundation in Beirut, a shopping center and museum showcasing the private contemporary art collection of Tony Salamé, the founder of Lebanese luxury retailer Aishti.

Located on a coastal brownfield site in central Beirut, the building integrates the two distinct programs by establishing what the architects call a "celebration of views into the spaces as well as a homogenising tiled design that presents a language throughout the building’s floor, façade and roof." Interior spaces are organized around a reflective central atrium, while an undulating landscape along the water reclaims seaside public space, and opens up views over the city of Beirut.

Check out the full photoset, below.

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TIME Magazine has named architect David Adjaye to their annual list of 100 Most Influential People, recognizing the world figures who have had the most impact on society in the past year in five categories: Pioneers, Titans, Artists, Leaders, and Icons. Unlike Bjarke Ingels and Wang Shu – who were selected under the Artist category in 2016 and 2013, respectively – Adjaye was nominated in the Icons category alongside champions including media personality RuPaul, subversive photographer Cindy Sherman, and US Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights leader who was the original advocate for a National African American Museum in Washington, which was eventually designed by Adjaye and inaugurated last September.

In the citation for the award, Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem (and currently working with the architect on an expansion project for the museum), describes Adjaye as “one of the great architectural visionaries of our time,” and lauds his work as “deeply rooted in both the present moment and the complex context of history."

The Ross Development Trust, in collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council and Malcolm Reading Consultants, has announced the seven finalists teams that will compete for the design of the new Ross Pavilion in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland. Located in West Princes Street Gardens below Edinburgh Castle and at the intersection of the UNESCO World Heritage recognized Old and New Towns, the £25 million project will feature a landmark pavilion to replace an existing bandstand, a visitors center with cafe, and a subtle reimagination of the surrounding landscape. The new pavilion will host a range of cultural arts programming.

From an entry pool of 125 teams, the following seven were unanimously selected to continue on to the second stage of the competition:

The International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust Scotland (IMPACT Scotland) has announced a shortlist of 6 teams in the running to design a new concert hall and arts center in the heart of the Edinburgh New Town World Heritage Site. The building, estimated to cost up to £45 million ($57 million USD), will house a 1,000 seat auditorium that will become the new home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

From 69 expressions of interest in the competition, six teams have been selected by IMPACT Scotland’s judging panel as finalists for the commission. The firms are as follows (in alphabetical order):

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The UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and Malcolm Reading Consultants have revealed the designs of 10 teams shortlisted to design a new Holocaust Memorial, to be located in London's Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of Parliament. After a call for expressions of interest was launched in September, 10 star-studded teams were selected in November and invited to submit their designs for an "emotionally powerful and sensitively designed memorial."

With the designs now revealed to the public, competition organizer Malcolm Reading Consultants and the government-led Memorial Foundation are now consulting with the public and are inviting people to submit feedback about the designs here. The feedback received in this consultation period "will play a crucial role in informing the jury’s final decision on the memorial," they explained in a press release. Read on to see all 10 shortlisted designs.

David Adjaye OBE, principal of Adjaye Associates, will be Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to architecture at an investiture in 2017. The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St. James's Palace, who administer the Knight Batchelor awards that will be bestowed upon the architect, described Adjaye as "one of the leading architects of his generation and a global cultural ambassador for the UK."

Adjaye Associates, alongside development manager Alchemi Group, have submitted a planning application for 5 Strand, a mixed-use scheme adjacent to London's iconic Trafalgar Square. Inspired and informed by the surrounding historic buildings, the new 5 Strand will include 62,000 square feet (5,760 square meters) of office space, 26 apartments, and two ground-level retail units.

The Government of the United Kingdom and competition organizer Malcolm Reading Consultants have announced the ten architect teams selected to envision designs for the new National Memorial to the Holocaust, to be located next to the UK Parliament. Designs will encompass a “striking” new National Memorial in Victoria Gardens, as well as a possible below ground Learning Center.

The 10 shortlisted teams were selected from nearly 100 entries from teams across the globe by a jury made up of notable figures in British culture, religion and architecture, including Director of Stanton Williams Architects, Paul Williams; former Serpentine Galleries Director Dame Julia Peyton-Jones; and National September 11 Memorial and Museum Director, Alice M Greenwald.

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The Illuminated River Foundation has unveiled the six designs shortlisted to transform the river Thames in London by lighting up key bridges along the length of the river. The six teams were selected in September and asked to work their initial schemes into concept designs for the Westminster, Waterloo, London and Chelsea bridges. The teams comprise: Adjaye Associates; A_LA; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Leo Villareal with Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Future\Pace; Les Éclairagistes Associés with ecqi and Federico Pietrella; and Sam Jacob Studio with Simon Heijdens. Read on to see all six designs.