David Adjaye lives and works between London and New York.
As an extension of our At Home Q&A series, we checked in with Ruby City’s architect, Sir David Adjaye OBE, to see what’s on his mind during the pandemic. First introduced to Ruby City founder Linda Pace by artist Isaac Julien, Adjaye designed Ruby City based off of one a structure in one of Pace’s dreams. The two remained close until her passing in 2007. Adjaye helped inaugurate our geometric building at our grand opening last fall.
So, what in the greater architectural and design worlds has been catching Adjaye’s eye lately? “Top of mind, I have been blown away by the work of my mentee Mariam Kamar. She’s navigating the complexities of being a female African architect with grace and maturity,” Adjaye says. Adjaye and Kamar recently worked together on Kamar’s design for the Niger Cultural Centre, which will be a cluster of five raw-earth buildings (including the city’s first municipal library since Niger’s independence) in the capital city of Niger. “I imagine this will be one of many of Mariam’s projects that cultivate spaces for people to live in and feel good about.”
In terms of studio practices, Adjaye is particularly inspired by the Johannesburg-based collaborative architectural Counter Space, which happens to be led by all women. “I have been working with and supporting in their design for the Serpentine Pavilion. They are an absolutely phenomenal gang and I’ve been genuinely surprised and delighted by their generational inventiveness in the forms they produce and their level of critical thinking.”
And, I also am particularly inspired by Counter Space, a collaborative architectural studio led by all women that I have been working with and supporting in their design for the Serpentine Pavilion. They are an absolutely phenomenal gang and I’ve been genuinely surprised and delighted by their generational inventiveness in the forms they produce and their level of critical thinking.