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Razia Iqbal in conversation with some of the world's greatest architects.

Dream Builders: David Adjaye

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David Adjaye

09/08/2014

BBC World Service - Dream Builders, David Adjaye

David Adjaye, architect of the Smithsonian NMAAHC in Washington DC.

David Adjaye discusses architecture, the public space and African aesthetics, and what it means to hold a practice together in hard times.

David Adjaye has been described as an architect with an ‘artist’s sensibility’. His internationally renowned buildings are defined by his bold use of innovative materials and a diverse colour palette which reflect an equally strong interest in landscape and terrain.

From his pioneering "Ideas Store" library buildings in the UK to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington DC, the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, and the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, London, his work is imbued with, and inspired by, the stories of people and dynamics of place. 

In 2007, he was awarded an OBE for services to architecture and in 2013 he topped the Guardian’s “Powerlist” of Britain’s most influential black people. He currently has projects underway in Ghana, Nigeria, America, China and the Middle East.

In this programme, recorded in partnership with RIBA, David Adjaye talks to Razia Iqbal about his approach to building, his many journeys and the projects and experiences that have defined him.

Photo: © Ed Reeve

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