DAVID ADJAYE IN CHICAGO

Irvington Place, London, UK, 2007. By Adjaye Associates.

The Art Institute of Chicago’s aptly titled exhibition, Making Place: The Architecture of David Adjaye, epitomizes not only architect David Adjaye’s rich and varied portfolio of projects in cities around the world, but also a design ethos that is simultaneously expansive and specific. His work is guided by diverse geographic influences and styles, and yet always attuned to local context, even in today’s ever- changing, globalizing world. Opening this fall, the show will be the first mid-career survey of the prolific, Ghanaian-British architect.

Adjaye’s international upbringing (he grew up in Ghana, the Middle East, and England) coupled with his extensive studies of architecture, has informed his aesthetic, which draws from a heterogeneous design vocabulary and is especially responsive to place, to both its unique character and needs. His practice—located in London, New York, Berlin, and Accra—has completed more than fifty projects, with many more in the works, for renowned clients and institutions, including the Moscow School of Management, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and the recently completed Sugar Hill affordable housing development in New York City.

Filling several galleries of the museum and set within an installation design conceived by Adjaye Associates, the show will feature housing, public buildings, master plans, and furniture, as well as drawings, models, and sketches. A film specially commissioned for the exhibition will include conversations with artists, curators, and art world figures who have collaborated with Adjaye. artic.edu