With an exceptional body of working spanning 25 years of practice, Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye OBE will receive the 2021 Royal Gold Medal, the UK’s highest honour for architecture. The medal is approved personally by Her Majesty The Queen and awarded to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence ‘either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture.’
Sir David Adjaye OBE founded Adjaye Associates in 2000 and today has studios in London, New York and Accra, with acclaimed project work around the world.
Drawing on influences that range from ‘contemporary art, music and art to African art forms and the civic life of cities,’ Adjaye’s completed projects include private houses, exhibitions, and furniture design, along with major cultural buildings and city masterplans.
He is perhaps most well-known for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, DC (2016). Where Adjaye Associates were the lead designer of the Freelon Adjaye/Bond SmithGroup. Other notable completed projects include Ruby City, an art centre in San Antonio, Texas (2019); the Alara Concept Store in Lagos (2016); the Sugar Hill Mixed-Use Development (housing, museum, community facilities and offices) in Harlem, New York (2015); the Aïshti Foundation, a mixed-use retail and arts centre in Beirut, Lebanon (2015); two neighbourhood libraries in Washington, DC (both 2012); the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo in Russia (2010); the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado (2007); the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway (2005); Rivington Place arts centre in Hackney, London (2007); and the Idea Stores – two community libraries in London (2004, 2005).
Current/upcoming projects include a new home for The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York in collaboration with Cooper Robertson; 130 William, a high-rise residential tower in New York’s financial district; the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Dakar, Senegal; the Princeton University Art Museum in Princeton, New Jersey in collaboration with Cooper Robertson; the George Street Sydney Plaza in Sydney, Australia; The Abrahamic Family House, an interfaith complex in Abu Dhabi; Winter Park Library and Events Center in Winter Park, Florida; the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, London led by Adjaye Associates, with Ron Arad Architects as Memorial Architect, and Gustafson Porter + Bowman as Landscape Architect; the Royal Benin Museum in Benin City, Nigeria; the National Cathedral of Ghana in Accra; and the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In addition to practice, Adjaye has since the start of his career also been engaged with teaching at schools of architecture in the UK and the USA, including professorships at the universities of Harvard, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Princeton.
Upon learning he will receive the Royal gold Medal in 2021, Sir David Adjaye said:
‘“It’s incredibly humbling and a great honour to have my peers recognise the work I have developed with my team and its contribution to the field over the past 25 years. Architecture, for me, has always been about the creation of beauty to edify all peoples around the world equally and to contribute to the evolution of the craft. The social impact of this discipline has been and will continue to be the guiding force in the experimentation that informs my practice. A heartfelt and sincere moment of gratitude and thanks to all the people who supported the journey to get to this moment.”
