David Adjaye

David Adjaye, Architect: Talks at GS Session Highlights

David Adjaye, Val Carlotti, Tim McGillen

Award-winning architect David Ajayi is designing the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, a 400,000-square-foot facility authorized by George W. Bush and set to open in Washington D.C. in 2016. The design rejects a fixed signature style in favor of an inverted pyramid silhouette inspired by West African shrines, positioning the museum as a narrative transition between the National Mall and the Washington Memorial grounds. This project embodies Ajayi's philosophy of "democracy of knowledge" by utilizing public structures to destigmatize community access while reframing the African-American experience as central to American identity.