q&a with u.k. starchitect david adjaye -- new york magazine

q&a with u.k. starchitect david adjaye -- new york magazine new york magazine art skip to content, or skip to search. home this week's magazine cover archive newsletters about us restaurants find a restaurant recipes openings & buzz grub street new reviews best of ny food insatiable critic nightlife find a bar bar buzz music reviews best of ny nightlife party lines entertainment entertainment agenda art books classical & dance kids movies music theater tv vulture blog agenda entertainment agenda art books classical & dance kids movies music theater tv vulture blog shopping find a store best bets sales & bargains the find shop-a-matic store openings beauty & spas best of ny shopping fashion fashion home the look book video look book fashion shows models designers fashion calendar show & talk beauty & spas best of ny best of ny home beauty eating & drinking fun & nightlife home & help kids shopping by neighborhood a-z list travel travel home nyc visitors guide nyc hotel search winter travel guide weekend travel travel columns news news home intelligencer daily intel kurt andersen james cramer chris smith john heilemann it happened last week real estate real estate home sales rentals mortgages & services neighborhoods home design classifieds design directory extra! extra! for your home great gifts medical guide real estate marketplace spa guide single services & events travel video sitemap skip to content, or skip to search. entire site restaurants bars & clubs events hotels museums & attractions spas & beauty services stores search: entire site restaurants bars & clubs events hotels multimedia museums & attractions spas & beauty services stores subscribe & get 6 months free subscribe today! | give a gift welcome, username edit profile log out you are not logged in log in register don’t call david adjaye a starchitect lauded and pilloried (well, by one client), the u.k. sensation heads to our shores. by alexandra lange (photo: dominik gigler) american architecture has been rather devoid of photogenic young turks in recent years—the architect with the most buzz at the moment is philip johnson, yet again—but in the u.k., the designated star is david adjaye. the ghanaian, royal college of art–trained architect, 40, built his reputation designing tough, opaque houses in rapidly gentrifying london neighborhoods: masklike gray façades on the outside, lots of open space within, for cool artistic types like ewan mcgregor, jake chapman, and sue webster and tim noble. he’s since moved up in the world. in june, he was awarded an order of the british empire by the queen for services to architecture, following several public works—like his idea stores, which have shaken up the notion of the library, and his nobel peace center in oslo. and now he’s coming to america. the exhibit “making public buildings” opens this week at the studio museum in harlem; his new york office opens this year; and his museum of contemporary art in denver opens this fall. adjaye spoke to alexandra lange about public vs. private, africa and new york, and what it’s like when a client attacks you in the press. london: the idea store library.   (photo: lyndon douglas) it seems like there is something very different going on in your public and private work. just look at the pictures… i have this discourse about private retreat and public engagement. my public work dissolves barriers, it tries to encourage permeability. the house is a kind of retreat from the urbanity of the city. they are more tranquil spaces. isn’t it strange for you to go between these public buildings and then work for rich clients on their private houses? that is just normal life, isn’t it? my job is not to judge. if somebody wants to spend a billion pounds on their bathroom, that is their own morality, their own conscience. they have to deal with it. the other way is maybe the sixties view of architecture. which really has problems. architects are good at building. they are not good at politics. you’ve said that your idea stores in london are a radical rethink of what a library can be. how? it becomes not just a depository for books but it has adult- education classes; instructors to teach motor mechanics, aerobics, flower arranging. body and mind are being exercised. you have spaces to have weddings, cafés, a crèche. the concept was developed by the local authority, and i interpreted it. did you also come up with the name? the name is by the local authority. i can’t name buildings, unfortunately. i don’t have that much power. so how does the exterior of the building reflect its mission? the idea stores are in very diverse communities where there are as many as fifteen languages spoken. a unifying quality was that all these groups were to be found in the market spaces. the imagery of the market is these awnings, which are blue and green stripes. so the façades of the idea stores are colored glass, blue and green glass. it is not a literal translation but a visual clue. your museum in denver also seems like an attempt to make something more public than the traditional museum. it is like a mini-version of a city. how is that done architecturally? you never go from one exhibition space to another: you always come out into a kind of street and then you meander into another exhibition space. the way in which you are seeing art is almost like being in a little village or little town. what is the plus of that? you have the ability to perceive art, digest it, then go on to the next thing. you get away from the exhaustion when you are relentlessly pounded with stuff. and what are you up to in new york? we are building a house for an amazing art collector [adam lindemann and his wife, gallerist amalia dayan] on the upper east side. it is quite hermetic. in ten years, 50 percent of the world will live in cities; they are becoming massive. the home is something that becomes an emotional incubator and resuscitator. it is not about tricks but about the way in which you reorient a person’s perceptions by focusing on water or on a tree or on a texture of a wall, making the home a meditative space. for this house, the thing the house reflects on will also be art. have you been following the atlantic yards news, since your first new york project, for artists james casebere and lorna simpson, was in fort greene? there are a lot of emotional discussions about new development everywhere. as an architect, i have to be an optimist. page 1 2 next share email print advertising bag peaks in north creek a four-hour drive from manhattan, the sleepy adirondacks town is a great jumping-off point for strenuous fall hikes. more in travel grub street restaurant insider agenda new york travels best bets & sales newsletters restaurant insider:one line description here. 24 hrs 7 days 30 days race in relation to former 'times' editor gerald boyd's fall the return of superfly the degentrification of red hook a conversation between frank lucas and nicky barnes can a lack of sleep set back your child's cognitive abilities? more top stories 24 hrs 7 days 30 days the return of superfly a conversation between frank lucas and nicky barnes dell dude now tequila dude at tortilla flats can a lack of sleep set back your child's cognitive abilities? art adviser kim heirston on helping old money and new get into the market more top stories 24 hrs 7 days 30 days can a lack of sleep set back your child's cognitive abilities? 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