Adjaye has been working on several library and education programs at the Idea Store Whitechapel was that at the library, the numbers were dwindling. We built a new building in the right context for the community. We moved it from an institutional place to a place that was very close to commerce. We worked with the library team to allow it to have an incredible platform of programs where single mothers could leave their kids, and developed a way in which the building could have adult education classes, etc. We found that we had a huge spectrum of the community, from young kids through to older people, just hanging out, spending their afternoons in the library and catching up with people. The library’s numbers are four times what they expected. Something happens when you make buildings more open, more accessible, less hierarchical and less formal.
He has been working on a project for Smithsonian Institute at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture (in Washington, ,D.C..) for the past three years. He affectionately dubs it as a “dream commission”. The contribution of the African-American community as it relates to the definition of their role in America is finally being recognized on the National Mall. The building will take cues from the incredible evolution of their presence in this country. But . he says, “It’s also a space for discovery. It is a building that allows the American people to discover their history in a very direct way. Seeing American history through the lens of the African-American community is really going to surprise people.” The building will be reminiscent of an 19th and early 20th century Yoruba sculpture. It will be open in 2015. See? A sheer genius!