Designing the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

A talk by David Adjaye, Architect, Adjaye Associates, London.

David Adjaye OBE is recognized as a leading architect of his generation. Born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents, his influences range from contemporary art, music and science to African art forms and the civic life of cities. He founded Adjaye Associates in 2000, quickly revealing his ingenious use of materials and sculptural ability on a range of prestigious commissions.

Adjaye Associates now has offices in London, Berlin, New York, Accra and Shanghai and is working throughout the world. In the United States, Adjaye was the designer of a new home for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver (2007), two public libraries in Washington DC (2012), as well as of several innovative residential projects. In 2009 a team led by Adjaye was selected to design the new $360 million Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington DC.

Adjaye has taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had previously studied, and at the Architectural Association School in London, and has held distinguished professorships at the universities of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Princeton. He is currently visiting professor of architecture and design at Yale. He was awarded the OBE for services to architecture in 2007, received the Design Miami/ Year of the Artist title in 2011 and the Wall Street Journal Innovator Award in 2013. Adjaye has co-presented and hosted a number of television series and radio programmes for the BBC.