african genius
Tanzanian born British architect , David Adjaye, recently was elected as the 2011 Designer of the Year by Design Miami at their annual design fair. He made his name by creating spare, geometric houses for art-world clients, showing a keen understanding of how architecture can serve as a community's social glue through an African sensibility. His best designs are reveal tactile qualities and the use of various textures of materials that allow the play of light - that engage the viewer physically and mentally and bring architecture to life. Adjaye, who graduated from the Royal College of Art, worked in the office of David Chipperfield, the London architect whose reputation rests on designing reassuringly clean minimalist structures for riskaverse clients before opening his own practice in 1994. He started out by renovating bars, cafes and private residences then expanded his clientele beyond London to include Berlin and New York.
Mr. Adjaye is also known for his colorful and eclectic designs for the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, as well as for the homes and studios he has designed for artists and celebrity clients like Alexander McQueen and Ewan McGregor. When asked about the strong social influences in his work he says that he relates architecture as being “excavated of its social and political potential” yet still empty. “Architecture in itself is not an act of politics, but it can form …the ideas that we have for society and politics. Our ideas about a civilized world are manifested through the architecture we make. So when I’m designing a market building, I’m thinking about how people relate to each other and what that means in the society that we live in. That informs how the building is made. And ideas about access and personal freedoms are embedded in the building.