David Adjaye Bio | Wiki
David Adjaye is a Ghanaian-British architect. He is known for having designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
David was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to architecture. He received 2021, Royal Gold Medal, making him the first African recipient and one of the youngest recipients.
David Adjaye Age
David was born on September 22, 1966, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is 56 years old.
David Adjaye Height
He is a man of average stature and stands at a height of 5 ft 7 in (Approx. 1.7 m).
David Adjaye Family
He was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to his parents. David’s father is a Ghanaian diplomat. He lived in Tanzania, Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon before moving to Britain at the age of nine. He holds both British and Ghanaian nationality and belongs to the black ethnicity.
David Adjaye Wife
David is married to his beautiful wife named Ashley Shaw-Scott. The couple celebrated their wedding in 2014 and Chris Ofili was David’s best man. Ashley has focused her personal and professional pursuits on girls’ and women’s empowerment.
Currently, she lives in Accra, Ghana, and is the Global Head of Research at Adjaye Associates, an award-winning international architectural firm. Ashley is also the Artistic Chair of The World Reimagined, a mass participation art education project about Britain’s relationship to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
David Adjaye Education
Following his graduation with a BA in Architecture from London South Bank University in 1990, David was nominated for the RIBA President’s Medal. He won the RIBA Bronze Medal for the best design project produced at the BA level worldwide. He graduated with an MA in 1993 from the Royal College of Art.
David Adjaye Architecture | Architecture Style
Due to his father’s career as a diplomat, David traveled extensively in Africa and the Middle East as a child, and that allowed him to develop a heightened degree of cultural sensitivity, which exposed him to a variety of architectural styles. He has particularly cited his travels being the influences on his approach to design.
Speaking with Smithsonian Magazine David said, “My practice absolutely believes that architecture is the physical act of social change, and the manifestation of it. I believe in architecture as a social force that actually makes good. And one that edifies communities”.
David Adjaye Buildings | Projects
He is known for having designed many notable buildings around the world, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Some other buildings include:
-Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
-Skolkovo Moscow School of Management
-Rivington Place
-Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library
-Bellevue / William O. Lockridge Library
-Aishti Foundation
-Winter Park Library and Events Center in Winter Park, Florida.
David Adjaye NYC | New York | Sugar Hill
His other works include interiors for the SEIU 1199 Healthcare Workers’ East in New York City. Sugar Hill Mixed-Use Development in Harlem, New York was opened in 2015. David established his practice in 2000 as Adjaye Associates. The firm now operates globally with offices in Accra, London, and New York and has completed projects in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa
David Adjaye African American Museum
On April 15, 2009, David was selected lead architect for the team of architects. It includes the Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond, and SmithGroup, to design the new $540 million National Museum of African American History and Culture, a Smithsonian Institution museum, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
His design features a crown motif from Yoruba sculpture. The museum opened in the fall of 2016 and was named “the cultural event of the year” by The New York Times. It was also the subject of a profile on the Sky Arts program The Art of Architecture in 2019. The furniture that David designed for the museum is manufactured and sold by Knoll.
David Adjaye Books
In September 2022, David published his continued portfolio in his latest book titled Adjaye Works 2007 – 2015: Houses, Pavilions, Installations, Buildings with Peter Allison and Thames & Hudson.
David Adjaye Winter Park Library
In 2017, David in conjunction with HuntonBrady Architects revealed the design of the Winter Park Library and Events Center in Winter Park, Florida. The library officially opened to the public on December 13, 2021. In 2022, it was the Jury Winner in the Library Category for the Architizer A+ Awards.
David Adjaye Ruby City
In 2007, artist Linda Pace reached out to him to design a contemporary art center for her art collection shortly before she died from breast cancer that year. Ruby City, located in San Antonio, Texas, opened in 2019. His other recent works include interiors for the SEIU 1199 Healthcare Workers’ East in New York City, The Webster in Los Angeles, California (2020), and Mole House in London, UK (2019).
David Adjaye Pavilion
In May 2019, the Ghana Freedom Pavilion – designed by David – was inaugurated at the 58th Venice Art Biennale. He also designed the 56th Venice Art Biennale with the late curator Okwui Enwezor; the River Reading Room for the Gwangju Biennale; and the Sclera Pavilion for the London Design Festival.
Earlier in 2022, the Cherry Groce Memorial Pavilion was completed. Commissioned by the Cherry Groce Foundation, the memorial is in honor of Cherry Groce, who was shot in her home by the Metropolitan Police in front of her children on September 28, 1985.