Event

Distinguished Open Lecture: Building Publics by Sir David Adjaye OBE

Event Date(s): 02/12/2018

Location: Teaching and Learning Complex (TLC), Lecture Theatre E


The Open Lectures Committee in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects and the Board of Architecture of Trinidad and Tobago presents a Distinguished Open Lecture by Sir David Adjaye OBE, Architect – one of the leading architects of his generation on the topic, Building Publics. 

His significant projects to date include the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington DC among other notable mentions.

The lecture takes place at 4pm at the Teaching and Learning Complex (TLC), Lecture Theatre E. This lecture is free and open to the public. To indicate your attendance email UWISTAevents@sta.uwi.edu or call 662-2002 ext. 83635.

Abstract

Sir David Adjaye OBE will present a lecture titled "Building Publics" He will share the creative process behind his work, as well as his professional and personal commitment to the social purpose of architecture and the design of civic buildings that connect communities. Renowned for an eclectic material and color palette, and a capacity to offer a rich civic experience, his buildings differ in form and style, yet are unified by their ability to generate new typologies and to reference a wide cultural discourse.

His broad range of influences, ingenious use of materials, and sculptural ability have established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility. In 2000, he founded Adjaye Associates, which now has offices in London, New York, and Accra, with projects in the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. His largest project to date, Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2016 and was named Cultural Event of the Year by the New York Times. 

About Sir David Adjaye OBE

He is recognised as a leading architect of his generation. Adjaye was born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents and his influences range from contemporary art, music and science to African art forms and the civic life of cities. In 1994, he set up his first office, where his ingenious use of materials and his sculptural ability established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision. He reformed his studio as Adjaye Associates in 2000. The firm now has offices in London, New York and Accra with projects in the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His largest project to date, the $540 million Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in fall of 2016 and was named Cultural Event of the Year by the New York Times.

Other prominent completed work include the Idea Stores in London (2005), which were credited with pioneering a new approach to library services, the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2010), the Sugar Hill mixed-use social housing scheme in Harlem, New York (2015); and the Aishti Foundation retail and art complex in Beirut (2015). Prominent ongoing projects include a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, a new headquarters building for the International Finance Corporation in Dakar, and the just-announced National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London.

In 2017, Adjaye was recently knighted by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Architecture, following the previous award of an OBE in 2007. The same year, he was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME magazine. He has additionally received the Design Miami/ Artist of the Year title in 2011, the Wall Street Journal Innovator Award in 2013 and the 2016 Panerai London Design Medal from the London Design Festival.

Adjaye is known for his frequent collaborations with contemporary artists on installations and exhibitions. Most notably, he designed the 56th Venice Art Biennale with curator Okwui Enwezor (2015). The Upper Room, featuring thirteen paintings by Chris Ofili (2002), is now part of the permanent collection of Tate Britain. Further examples include Within Reach, a second installation with Ofili in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2003) and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art for the 21st Century Pavilion that was designed to show Your Black Horizon, a projection work by Olafur Eliasson, at the 2005 Venice Biennale.

Adjaye has held distinguished professorships at the Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities. He has also taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had previously studied, and at the Architectural Association School in London. The material from his ten-year study of the capital cities of Africa was exhibited as Urban Africa at London’s Design Museum (2010) and published as Adjaye Africa Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2011). He was the artistic director of GEO-graphics: A map of art practices in Africa, past and present, a major exhibition at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (2010). In 2015, a comprehensive retrospective exhibition of his work to date launched at Haus der Kunst in Munich and the Art Institute of Chicago, and was subsequently shown at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow.

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