Frank Adjaye OBE RA (born September 1966) is a Ghanaian British architect.
s the lead designer of the National Museum of African American History and
cated on the National Mall in Washington, DC. David Adjaye was born in Dar es
nzania. The son of a Ghanaian diplomat, David Adjaye lived in Tanzania, Egypt,
Lebanon before moving to Britain at the age of nine. He earned a BA at London
University, before graduating with an MA in 1993 from the Royal College of Art.
A
djaye Associates was established in June 2000 by founder and principal architect,
Sir David Adjaye OBE. Receiving ever-increasing worldwide attention, the
firm has offices in London, New York and completed work in Europe, North
America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Two of the practice’s largest
commissions to date are the design of the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in
Washington D.C. and the Moscow School of Management (SKOLKOVO). Further
projects range in scale from private houses, exhibitions, and temporary pavilions
to major arts centres, civic buildings, and masterplans. Renowned for an eclectic
material and colour palette and a capacity to offer a rich civic experience, the
ffer in form and style, yet are unified by their ability to generate new typologies and
a wide cultural discourse.
works include: the regenerative Morning Lane Arches retail corridor in Hackney,
6); Sugar Hill museum and housing development in Harlem, New York (2015); the
ation arts and shopping complex in Beirut, Lebanon (2015); Alara Concept Store in
ia (2014); Marian Goodman Gallery, London (2014); the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery
d African American Art at the Hutchins Centre, Harvard University (2014); two
od libraries in Washington DC (2012); the Stephen Lawrence Centre in London
useum of Contemporary Art in Denver (2007); Rivington Place Gallery in London
Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo (2005); and the Idea Stores in Tower Hamlets, London
05) – two pioneering community libraries in London’s Tower Hamlets.
t projects include: One Berkeley Street, a £600 million mixed-use residential
nt in London’s prestigious Piccadilly area; a new home for The Studio Museum
ew York; offices for the International Financial Corporation in Dakar, Senegal; a
e Linda Pace Foundation in San Antonio, TX; and a regenerative cultural campus
Tel Aviv’s disused former central bus station.
2009, David Adjaye was selected as a team of architects, which included the Freelon
s Brody Bond and SmithGroup, to design the $500 million new National Museum
merican History and Culture, a Smithsonian Institution museum, on the National
ington, D.C. His design features a crown motif from Yoruba sculpture.
hining light
atch Inside the National Museum of African American History & Culture
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