COVER: David Adjaye / Cultured Magazine / February - March 2015

Social Studies

Architect David Adjaye blends his African roots with cutting-edge contemporary technique to further what he calls “social architecture.”

Text | Ted Loos

Portrait | Simon Watson

Excerpt:

David Adjaye is an outlier in the top tier of international architects in more ways than one. At 48, the Tanzanian-born Adjaye, who moved to the U.K. at age 13, is an unusually talented designer of spaces and structures; but the world has more than one of those. it’s the passionate case he makes for what he calls “social architecture” that is setting him apart these days, pushing him toward even more prominence. to Adjaye, social architecture means creating buildings that tell a story about people, binding them together in ways that go beyond a shared form of shelter. 

“From day one, I’ve been committed to this idea of design democracy,” says the London-based Adjaye, who is socially very smooth and polished but can get heated up when it comes to this topic. “Great design is not just for the elite, it’s also for everyone else because it completely empowers people.”

Pick up a copy of the February/March 2015 issue of Cultured Magazine on newsstands now or read article online here.

NEW YORK: Build it! Architecture Workshop / DreamYard Project Center / Bronx, NY / October 16, 2011 / 1:00pm

BUILD IT! ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP
Sunday, October 16, 2011 from 1:00pm  to 3:00pm (EST)


DREAM YARD PROJECT CENTER
1085 Washington Ave @ East 166th Street
Bronx, NY

Build fantastic cardboard towers, forts and sculptures, helping re-imagine the design of DreamYard’s courtyard. Working with Alex Gilliam of Public Workshop and teaching architect Ann deVere, participants will design beautiful structures. This will include an overview of the design of DreamYard’s facilities by the building’s architects, H3 Architecture. All ages welcome. Reservations are required to participate in this event.

Reserve Tickets here 

Ann deVere is a seasoned teaching artist and educator of the built environment. She conducts workshops and AIE classes in public schools under the auspices of various New York City cultural and arts organizations. She first stepped into a classroom at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in their Community Outreach Program in 1998. She has worked with OHNY, Wave Hill, Friends of the Highline, and Henry Street Settlement. A native New Yorker, deVere is also a visual artist with a concentration in printmaking and has received numerous awards including several MacDowell Colony Fellowships, a Ralph Fabri Printmaking scholarship and an Abrons Art Center AIR Workspace studio. She received her degree in architecture from Pratt Institute. Her portfolio of architectural accomplishments includes design commissions as well as developing and managing projects from concept to construction. As a teaching artist-architect, she employs both her applied and fine arts background to engage students in analytical applications, concept development and creative problem solving — all the while drawing upon their imaginations. As a measured result, students develop a sense of their own capabilities, discover their ideas have value and learn how they can enrich the environments around them.