David Adjaye: The Latest Architecture and News

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."

via GIPHY

After its opening in September last year, the now completed Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture can be seen in full swing, thanks to this new photoset taken by photographer Brad Feinknopf. Designed by Freelon Adjaye Bond / SmithGroup JJR (a collaboration which included Perkins + Will's Phil Freelon, David Adjaye from Adjaye Associates, Davis Brody Bond, and SmithGroup JJR), the 420,000 square foot building houses numerous galleries and collections, as well as a theater. Maintaining a strong connection to America’s engrained African history and roots through its bronze filigree envelope, the museum asserts a subtle presence in the landscape, coexisting alongside the Washington Monument and National Museum of American History.

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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.

In celebration of their 10-year anniversary, Article 25, the world's largest architectural charity, will hold this year's "10x10 Drawing the City London" event on November 29 at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Each year, representatives from UK's top architecture studios and property and design industries gather to raise funds for Article 25's work in developing countries. The event features an auction of artwork by 100 prominent rising artists, designers, and architects; this year's participants include Kengo Kuma, Richard Meier, Antony Gormley, Zaha Hadid Design, and David Adjaye.

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Architectural research initiative arch out loud has announced the winners of Tokyo Vertical Cemetery, its international open ideas competition that sought solutions to Tokyo’s rising issue of burial space.

Sited in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, the competition challenged architects and designers to develop proposals for a vertical cemetery that explores the relationship between life and death in the city while taking into account the cultural identity that is tied to death.

From 460 proposals representing 54 countries and six continents, one winner and three runners-up were selected by a jury including David Adjaye, Tom Wiscombe, Alison Killing, and more.

The winners of the Tokyo Vertical Cemetery competition are:

The Serpentine Galleries has announced a new process for the selection of architects for its successful Summer Serpentine Pavilion program.

For the event’s first 16 years, the annual commissions were selected by program founder and former Serpentine Galleries director Julia Peyton-Jones, who left her position earlier this year to pursue independent contemporary art and architecture projects. Replacing her are the Serpentine Galleries new CEO Yana Peel and Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, who will lead an advisory board featuring architects Richard Rogers and David Adjaye.

“What we can see of this building, the towering glass, the artistry of the metalwork, is surely a sight to behold.”

These were the words spoken by President Barack Obama as he inaugurated the most recent addition to the National Mall in Washington D.C., the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, this past weekend. The opening ceremonies featured musical performances and celebrations, as well as a look at the museum’s place in American history.

“This national museum helps to tell a richer and fuller story of who we are,” said Obama. “It helps us better understand the lives, yes, of the president but also the slave, the industrialist but also the porter, the keeper of the status quo but also the activist seeking to overthrow that status quo.”

Next Month, architecture will be hitting the mainstream media, as Bjarke Ingels has been selected to grace the cover of the September 2016 edition of WIRED UK. Titled “THINK BIGGER,” the issue will also feature profiles and stories from architects and designers Tom Dixon, Neri Oxman, David Adjaye and Rem Koolhaas. A Condé Nast Publication, the magazine focuses on the effects of science and technology on topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy.

In this series by renowned financial institution Goldman Sachs, Talks at GS, some of architecture’s leading minds, including David Adjaye and Maya Lin, talk about how their careers have developed, their secrets to success, and what they are working on right now. The most recent video features Bjarke Ingels discussing his design approach and the development of this year’s Serpentine Pavilion. In addition to the videos, Goldman Sachs has also sat down with two other design leaders to talk about their careers.

Find the rest of the interviews after the break.

The Spaces has recently released a short film in which architect David Adjaye and his musician brother Peter Adjaye discuss their upcoming vinyl collaboration, which fuses music and architecture together to represent a multi-sensory experience.

In the film, the Adjaye brothers delve into several topics, like explaining their inspirations, David’s early ambitions as a DJ, and their upcoming soundtrack for the soon-to-be-opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

David Adjaye is set to release a vinyl record with his brother Peter, a composer and musician with whom David has been formally collaborating for over a decade, reports The Spaces. The record, Dialogues, presents a collection of 10 of Peter's sonic responses to David's architectural projects. "When I see architecture I hear sounds – I respond to the visual. David responds to sound – he creates with a soundtrack in his mind," Peter said of their creative dynamic.

The Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation has selected Adjaye Associates to lead the design for a new contemporary art museum in downtown Riga. Selected from a pool of 7 finalists including wHY and Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, the winning design features a strongly animated roof geometry designed to pull soft northern light into each of the gallery spaces.

Adjaye Associates, working with local firm AB3D, envisioned the museum as a social incubator, a welcoming and porous space where people could be brought together through a variety of formal and spontaneous interactions. The jury found that the proposal’s distinctive silhouette would give the museum a strong presence within its context of planned commercial and residential developments, and that is orientation and materiality showed a keen awareness of the vernacular and cultural contexts.