David Adjaye Biography
David Adjaye is a British-Ghanaian architect. He is well-known for designing several important structures across the world, notably the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. At the 2017 New Year Honours, Adjaye was knighted for contributions to architecture. He has been awarded the 2021 Royal Gold Medal, making him the first African and one of the youngest winners. In 2022, he was appointed to the Order of Merit.
How old is David Adjaye? – Age
She is 31 years old as of 6 May 2022. She was born in 1991 in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
David Adjaye Family – Education
Adjaye was born in Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam. He moved to Britain at the age of nine after growing up in Tanzania, Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon, the son of a Ghanaian ambassador. He’s the younger brother of stem cell researcher James Adjaye. He received the RIBA Bronze Medal for the finest student design project in the UK after graduating with a BA degree in Architecture from London South Bank University in 1990. He graduated from the Royal College of Art’s master’s degree in 1993.
David Adjaye Wife
Adjaye married Ashley Shaw-Scott in 2014. His best man was Chris Ofili.
David Adjaye Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $10 million.
David Adjaye Architecture
The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, which opened in 2007, was designed by Adjaye. The building, Adjaye’s first museum project, was designed to blur the lines between the museum’s interior galleries and the city’s exterior spaces. Secret lookout windows occupy the inside spaces with normal light, and enormous windows glance out on the city roads. There are five galleries, dedicated education spaces, a shop, a library, and a rooftop café in the building.
The Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, which Adjaye designed and built, opened its doors in 2010. The building is designed in one form to encourage student interaction, rejecting the traditional campus style.
In Washington, D.C., Adjaye designed two brand-new neighborhood libraries: the Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library and the Bellevue/William O. Lockridge Library, which opened in 2012. The award-winning libraries are hailed as shining examples for the community.
The mixed art gallery and retail space known as the Aishti Foundation opened in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2015. Over 40,000 square feet of gallery space are available. The design by Adjaye combines shopping and art viewing, two seemingly opposing activities.
Adjaye was chosen as the lead architect on 15 April 2009 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 Yoruba crown motif. Other architects on the team include the Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond, and SmithGroup. The New York Times called the museum’s opening in the fall of 2016 “the cultural event of the year.” In 2019, a profile on it appeared on the Sky Arts program The Art of Architecture. Knoll manufactures and sells the museum’s Adjaye-designed furniture.
Just before she passed away from breast cancer in 2007, artist Linda Pace approached Adjaye to design a contemporary art center for her collection. In 2019, Ruby City opened in San Antonio, Texas.
George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU, contacted Adjaye in 2018, and Adjaye accepted the commission to design the new 16,500-square-foot member space. The design used ceramic tiles made by Cerámica Suro in Guadalajara, Mexico, to display hundreds of photos taken from the union’s extensive photo archive. In 2020, the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East will be completed in New York, New York. In 2020, the design won the Architect’s Newspaper Award for Best Interior Workplace Design.
The Winter Park Library and Events Center’s design was revealed in 2017 by Adjaye and HuntonBrady Architects in Winter Park, Florida. On December 13, 2021, the library officially opened to the public. In 2022, it was the Jury Victor in the Library Class for the Architizer A+ Grants.
David Adjaye Interiors
His other recent projects include the interiors for the SEIU 1199 Healthcare Workers’ East in New York City, The Webster in Los Angeles, California (for 2020), Mole House in London, United Kingdom (for 2019), Ruby City in San Antonio, Texas (for 2019), McCarter Switching Station in Newark, New Jersey (for 2018), Sugar Hill Mixed-Use Development in Harlem, New York (for 2015), Alara Concept Store in Lagos, Nigeria (for 2015), and Ashti Foundation
In 2015, the Studio Museum in Harlem asked Adjaye to design a new building. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of Ghana, unveiled the National Cathedral of Ghana designs created by Adjaye Associates in March 2018.
Adjaye unveiled his plans for the Princeton University Art Museum in September 2020. He also unveiled his plans for the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library and The Martyrs Memorial in Niamey, Niger, in the same year.
Adjaye unveiled his concept for the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA), which will be constructed in Benin City, Nigeria, in November 2020. The building designed by Adjaye Associates will include galleries for contemporary art as well as galleries for historical artifacts.
The Abrahamic Family House that he designed is currently in the final stages of construction and will open in 2023 on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It has a mosque, a church, and a synagogue to honor the three major Abrahamic religions, and it was designed in response to the Document on Human Fraternity. A cultural center that promotes the virtues of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence will also be a part of it.
The plans and renderings for the new Adjaye-designed W. E. B. Du Bois Museum Complex in Accra, Ghana, were presented by The W. E. B. Du Bois Museum Foundation in September 2022.
In October 2022, Grinnell School Leading body of Legal administrators endorsed development of the new Urban Commitment Quad Center Undertaking planned by Adjaye, scheduled to open in Fall 2024.
