David Adjaye’s “Oculus Quick Take”

In October, Miguel Angel Baltierra, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, interviewed David Adjaye, OBE, principal of London-based Adjaye Associates about his new book African Metropolitan Architecture (Rizzoli). It is a very large and rich catalogue of his exhibition “Urban Africa: David Adjaye’s Photographic Survey.”

The first of seven volumes presents essays by several scholars sharing their observations on the evolving urban experience in Africa. The remaining six volumes examine a decade of Adjaye’s documentation of 53 urban centers in six distinct geographic zones.

Adjaye has projects underway in North America, Europe, and Africa. The beauty and ingenuity of his design work is expressed with very exciting commissions, including the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American Culture and History, the Moscow School of Management, and the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, among others. He is also working on projects in Ghana, Nigeria, and Gabon.

This is an excerpt from an interview with Adjaye; the entire interview can be heard on the Center for Architecture’s SoundCloud page. Enjoy!

Miguel Baltierra: As an adolescent, you saw a recently independent Africa while traveling with your parents. As an adult, what were the greatest surprises or concerns that you came upon during your personal journey, begun in 1999, that we can come to appreciate in African Metropolitan Architecture?

David Adjaye: What was interesting for me, growing up as a young boy on the continent was at a time when there was a transition from the colonial legacy being finished and the new nation identities being birthed. It was an incredible period of new nation-building.

There was an extraordinary energy on the continent. There was a lot of inward investment, there was a lot of re-planning of cities and new architecture. Modernism was being used as the tool to express the new identify of these new nation-states. Very much in the way we look at the explosion happening inside China. Although China is much, much, more [developed] … it was seen in that way: this new birthing country. And I was born in that soup. In a way I was energized by that.

What happened 30 years later, going back to the continent, in a more systemized way and observing what has happened in those post independence days, is that in some countries there has been a sense of loss of that excitement of nation-building because they have been gripped by financial issues, social issues, difficulties having to do with governance and political issues. So some of that has dampened some of the energy that was incredibly [evident] on the continent at that time.

There are other [African] countries where there is a renewed enthusiasm for that time and [are trying] to latch on to that energy, that dynamism, and try to understand how the continent can now grow. These are countries whose economies are doing well, and they are becoming growth engines in central, west, and parts of south Africa, as well as parts of east Africa that have become the new growth areas.

MB: This is your second book published by Rizzoli. Can you share the process you went through to develop the relationship, and how you worked with them to curate the final product?

DA: Thames and Hudson was really the prime publisher. They were in from day one. During the process I started working on another book with Rizzoli. They saw that I was studying this Africa project in the studio. They indicated they would be very keen to be the American publishers and they came on board. The team at Rizzoli was very interested to see something that would talk about the contemporary condition in Africa, so it was pretty easy. It was more of a realization of common goals: really wanting to see something contemporary about Africa to put into the public realm. It was a natural fit.

Listen to the entire interview here.

Synopsis:
As a follow up to the 04.11.11 Oculus Book Talk with Witold Rybczynski about his book Makeshift Metropolis, AIANY Oculus Committee Member Miguel Baltierra, LEED AP, sat down with Rybczynski to continue the conversation.

Witold Rybczynski
20110425 – Witold Rybczynsky MP3 by Center for Architecture

Synopsis:
As a follow up to the 03.14.11 Oculus Book Talk with Tony Hiss about his book In Motion, AIANY Oculus Committee Members Maxinne Rhea Leighton, Assoc. AIA, and Miguel Baltierra sat down with Hiss to extend the conversation.

Tony Hiss
AIA podcast episode0022 Hiss.mp3 by Center for Architecture

Synopsis:
As a follow up to the 02.02.11 Thought Leadership 2.0: Transforming Your Firm’s Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, Marketing and PR Committee Member Tami Hausman caught up with Christopher Parsons, Founder, Knowledge Architecture and KA Connect.

Interview: Christopher Parsons
AIA podcast episode0021 Parsons by Center for Architecture

Henry Cobb, FAIA, President’s Award

Event: Heritage Ball
Location: Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, 10.07.10
Speakers: Henry Cobb, FAIA
Organizers: Center for Architecture for Architecture Week
Filmmaker: Arbuckle Industries

Related Links:
“Heritage Ball 2010: Celebrating Leadership,” by Emily Nemens, e-Oculus, 10.13.10.

Clinton Climate Initiative: Center for Architecture Foundation Award

Event: Heritage Ball
Location: Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, 10.07.10
Speakers: Clinton Climate Initiative: A Program of the William J. Clinton Foundation
Organizers: Center for Architecture for Architecture Week
Filmmaker: Arbuckle Industries

Related Links:
“CFAF Looks to Green Future of the Empire State,” by Emily Nemens, e-Oculus, 10.13.10.

Vicki Match Suna, AIA: Center for Architecture Award

Event: Heritage Ball
Location: Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, 10.07.10
Speakers: Vicki Match Suna, AIA, Senior Vice President and Vice Dean for Real Estate Development and Facilities at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Organizers: Center for Architecture for Architecture Week
Filmmaker: Arbuckle Industries

Related Links:
“The Next Evolutionary Stage for NYU Med,” by Bill Millard, e-Oculus, 10.13.10.

Interviews: Andrew Liang and Adam Yarinsky

Synopsis:
As a follow up to the 06.28.10 Thought Leadership: Leveraging Ideas to Build Business panel, Marketing and PR Committee Member Tami Hausman caught up with Dr. Andrew Liang, Managing Director, DEGW North America, who moderated the conversation, and panelist Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal, ARO.

Interview: Andrew Liang
AIA podcast episode0019 Liang by Center for Architecture

Interview: Adam Yarinsky
AIA podcast episode0020 Yarinsky by Center for Architecture

Interviews: John Hill and Kristen Richards

Panelists Julie V. Iovine, Executive Editor, Architects Newspaper, Robert Ivy, Editor-in-Chief, Architectural Record, Michael Sorkin, Principal, Michael Sorkin Studio, writer/editor/design critic John Hill, A Daily Dose of Architecture, and moderator Kristen Richards, editor, Oculus and www.ArchNewsNow.com at the 04.26.10 event “The Changing State of the Design Press: Now what?”

Emily Nemens

Synopsis:
As a follow up to the 04.26.10 Design Press panel, Marketing and PR Committee Member Tami Hausman caught up with panelists. She interviews John Hill, the force behind “A Daily Dose of Architecture,” and Kristen Richards, Hon. ASLA, who edits www.ArchNewsNow.com and Oculus magazine.
Interview: John Hill
AIA podcast episode0014 by Center for Architecture

Interview: Kristen Richards
AIA podcast episode0015 by Center for Architecture

Related Link:
“Pressing Questions: What’s next for Design Media,” by Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, e-Oculus, 05.04.10.

Interview: Ian Harris and David Krantz

David Krantz interviews a member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture at the Salk Institute.

Ian Harris

Synopsis:
Oculus Committee member Miguel Baltierra, AIA, interviews filmmakers Ian Harris and David Krantz about their film, Archiculture. The filmmakers won the 2010 Brunner Grant, administered by the Center for Architecture Foundation.

Interview:
AIA podcast episode0013 by Center for Architecture

Related Links:
“Archiculture: Documentary Receives 2010 Brunner Grant,” by Glenda Reed, Center for Architecture Foundation, e-Oculus, 04.06.10.
“A New Generation of Designers Speaks Up,” by Jacqueline Pezzillo, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, e-Oculus, 09.15.10