Adjaye receives 2021 Royal Gold Medal for architecture

Sir David Adjaye will receive the 2021 Royal Gold Medal, the UK’s highest honour for architecture.The Royal Gold Medal is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence "either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture".

Sir David Adjaye has achieved international attention for an international and diverse body of work produced by Adjaye Associates, which was founded in 2000 and has studios in Accra, London and New York.

Completed projects range from private houses, exhibitions and furniture design, through to major cultural buildings and city masterplans. Sir David has combined practice with teaching in schools of architecture in the UK and the USA, including professorships at the universities of Harvard, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Princeton.

Adjaye Associates are best known for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, DC (2016), where they were lead designer of the Freelon Adjaye/Bond SmithGroup.

Other completed projects include Ruby City, an art centre in San Antonio, Texas (2019); the Alara Concept Store in Lagos (2016); the Sugar Hill Mixed-Use Development (housing, museum, community facilities and offices) in Harlem, New York (2015); the Aïshti Foundation, a mixed use retail and arts centre in Beirut, Lebanon (2015); two neighbourhood libraries in Washington, DC (both 2012); the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo in Russia (2010); the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado (2007); the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway (2005); Rivington Place arts centre in Hackney, London (2007); and the Idea Stores – two community libraries in London (2004, 2005).

Sir David Adjaye said: “It’s incredibly humbling and a great honour to have my peers recognise the work I have developed with my team and its contribution to the field over the past 25 years.

"Architecture, for me, has always been about the creation of beauty to edify all peoples around the world equally and to contribute to the evolution of the craft. The social impact of this discipline has been and will continue to be the guiding force in the experimentation that informs my practice. A heartfelt and sincere moment of gratitude and thanks to all the people who supported the journey to get to this moment.”

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