Sir David Adjaye

Biography

Sir David Adjaye OBE is recognised as a leading architect of his generation. In 2000, he formed the studio Adjaye Associates, where his creative use of materials and sculptural ability established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision.

Recently completed projects include a contemporary art museum in Ruby City, San Antonio, US (2019); Ghana Freedom, Ghana’s pavilion for the International Art Exhibition, 58th Venice Biennale (2019); David Adjaye: Making Memory, an exhibition on monuments and memorials at the Design Museum, London (2019); the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC (2016); the Sugar Hill mixed-use social housing scheme in Harlem, New York (2015); the Aishti Foundation retail and art complex in Beirut (2015) and the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2010).

Adjaye is known for his frequent collaborations with contemporary artists on installations and exhibitions. Most notably, he has worked on the exhibition design for the 56th Venice Art Biennale with the late curator Okwui Enwezor (2015); the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art for the 21st Century Pavilion, created for Olafur Eliasson’s Your Black Horizon, 51st Venice Biennale (2005); Within Reach, an installation with Chris Ofili for the British pavilion, 50th Venice Biennale (2003); and The Upper Room, featuring thirteen paintings by Ofili, now part of the permanent collection of the Tate Britain, London (2002). Adjaye has held distinguished professorships at Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University and also taught at the Architectural Association School, London, and the Royal College of Art, London, where he previously studied.

Prominent ongoing projects include the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi; the UK National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London; 130 William, a luxury, high-rise residential tower in Manhattan; a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; and the National Cathedral of Ghana, Accra.

Adjaye was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Ghanaian parents in 1966. He works from his studios in London, New York and Accra.

SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 15
March Meeting 2022