The Ghanian-British architect David Adjaye, founder of Adjaye Associates, named as the new Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts together with artist Gilbert & George. Sir David Adjaye RA is conceived as a leading architect of his generation. Born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents, his broadly ranging influences, ingenious use of materials and sculptural ability have established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision.

''David Adjaye joins us at a time when the Royal Academy architects currently comprise a more distinguished group than at any time in its long history. I’m delighted to welcome Gilbert & George to the Royal Academy; the election of two people as one artist member is the first of its kind in the history of the Academy,'' said Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy.

Adjaye, 51, founded Adjaye Associates in 2000, and immediately won several prestigious commissions including the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo (2005) and the Idea Stores in London (2005), which were credited with pioneering a new approach to the provision of information services. His largest project to date, the $540 million Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in autumn of 2016 and was named cultural event of the year by the New York Times.

Adjaye Associates now has offices in London, New York and Accra with projects in the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. These include the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2010), the Sugar Hill mixed-use social housing scheme in Harlem, New York (2015); the Aishti Foundation retail and art complex in Beirut (2015); and two neighbourhood libraries in Washington DC (2012). Prominent ongoing projects include a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, a major neighbourhood masterplan in San Francisco, and One Berkeley, a £600 million redevelopment project in London’s prestigious Piccadilly area.

David Adjaye received the Knight Bachelor award as part of the Queen's biannual honours programme after 'his contributions to architecture and design across the United Kingdom' earlier this year and was awarded with London Design Medal in 2016. 

Top image © Ed Reeve 

> via RA