Exhibition David Adjaye – Form, Weight, Material, 30.01 – 31.05.15
Seminar Haus der Kunst, Munich, April 10, 2015
Curators: Okwui Enwezor, Zoë Ryan
Postcolonial Realism of David Adjaye
The exhibition “Form, Weight, Material” is the first major retrospective of London-based architect David Adjaye. A generous four-hour seminar at Munich's Haus der Kunst – a tour of the exhibition with David Adjaye and the exhibition curator Okwui Enwezor, followed by a debate, provided a unique insight into the thinking of this prominent contemporary architect.
The exhibition curator Okwui Enwezor speaks of Adjaye's architecture as postcolonial realism architecture (1). According to Enwezor, Adjaye's approach brings a necessary African postcolonial and cosmopolitan perspective within contemporary architecture while placing Africa in the context of modernization within the conditions of the emerging African economic boom. Adjaye represents a shift in global networks of knowledge and the rise of experts who deny traditional hegemonic structures of cultural capital. One cannot but agree with Enwezor. Adjaye, originally from Tanzania, grew up in Uganda and studied in London at Southbank University and later at the Royal College of Arts. He currently leads a global architectural office with over 100 employees on three continents and presents the impression of a polished English intellectual firmly rooted in London's cosmopolitan environment of designers, fashion designers, and collaborating with world-renowned artists such as Chris Ofili or Olafur Eliasson.
In relation to architecture, Adjaye is able to precisely articulate his own stances concerning history and actively reflects upon the current developments in architectural discourse: “Modernity created templates, not solutions. I borrow from the positives and intelligence of modern architecture – how it translated the industrial world into architecture and how it thought about density and the articulation of vertical and horizontal planning. This serves as a framework for me.”(2) He connects to modernism on one hand, as is evident from his consideration of abstract form, construction, and the social role of architecture. At the same time, it is in the moment of translation where the main key to David Adjaye's success lies – he is able to articulate his sources of inspiration – African abstraction or ornamental motifs in forms that are comprehensible in a Euro-Atlantic context. Adjaye's architecture is characterized by an emphasis on materiality, with the principles of ordering and layering being significant for him. He is not afraid to connect opposing positions from the perspective of Europeans. Adjaye perceives architecture as a social commitment – which he translates into designs for public buildings and museums, a holistic approach to sustainable and ecological architecture, or in the complex analysis of African cities and their urban development of the continent in the project “African Metropolitan Architecture”.
The exhibition was created as a collaboration between Haus der Kunst and the Art Institute of Chicago and presents not only architecture but also the working procedures and methods that Adjaye utilizes. Its relatively classical format as an architectural solo exhibition is based on intensive research in Adjaye's office and archive, an intense dialogue between the architect and both curators, and visits to realized architectural projects. In the process of conceptualizing Adjaye's work, thematic sections and overlapping layers of formal presentation in the form of landscapes "mock-ups" of ornamental facades, models, and Adjaye's authorial objects, along with interventions such as the Horizont pavilion or a concrete white line on a gray background that visually demarcates the space of the entire exhibition, which like Ariadne's thread guides the viewer's gaze from storyboard to storyboard, gradually expanding their horizon of knowledge.
In the introductory room of the exhibition, we find Adjaye's sketches – he considers the sketch to be his main medium, the essence of architectural design, and a catalog of real materials that Adjaye uses in his projects. The dimension of the materiality of architecture intertwines throughout the exhibition, whether in the aforementioned wooden objects, granite on the border between architecture and object, or mock-ups of the ornamental facades of Adjaye’s houses.
The borrowed Horizon pavilion, created in collaboration with Olafur Eliasson (London, Rome, 2007-2008), conveys the spatial impression of architecture at a 1:1 scale. It consists of two interlocking triangles made of a black lattice structure, demonstrating the essence of David Adjaye's architecture – according to the author’s words “it is a system that frames a certain position, an abstract narrative of compression, expansion, and perspective.” The pavilion appears very intense both as a perspective-light game as well as a podium from which surprised visitors can observe a photograph of the horizon of the Sea of Galilee.
In the second room “Living spaces” are models of Adjaye's realizations, primarily housing. The white models are uniform in scale, making it possible to compare them as a fictional city, the white color demonstrating Adjaye's way of thinking – revealing primary elements of form, primary structure, positive and negative space. The models are supplemented with video and image documentation for each project. Among the most well-known projects is the Elektra house in London (London 2000) or the so-called Dirty House (London, 2002) as well as other Adjaye realizations, characterized by the contrast of introverted black facades and bright white interiors.
In the next two rooms entitled “Democracy of Knowledge”, more extensive Adjaye projects are presented, among the most interesting are Idea-Stores, public libraries, a silk factory in Varanasi associated with the architect-initiated revival of the production of exclusive handwoven silk, or the recently completed Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. The pyramid-shaped museum provides an intelligent way of vertical lighting; the handcrafted ornamental bronze facade with African motifs resembles Nouvel's Institut du Monde Arabe. It is the essence of Adjaye's abstract work and translation of cultural motifs and meanings. The models are supplemented with a so-called storyboard, usually photographs that accumulate in Adjaye's office on a board as a “cloud” of visual architectural motifs and principles, which the curators sorted in collaboration with David Adjaye, providing insight into Adjaye's varied sources of inspiration and working methods.
Adjaye's urban studies and designs form the penultimate section of the exhibition. A highlight is the design of the recently completed Sugar Hill project in Harlem, New York. It is a block structure characterized by the setback of the last four floors and a triangular, jagged cornice. The brutalist facade made of precast concrete panels is covered with a second skin – a shiny glass film of abstracted roses. Adjaye deliberately refers to the brutalist aesthetic, which he considers to be the most interesting and progressive of British architecture from the second half of the twentieth century. The project includes 124 social housing units (the apartment layouts seem to be the only drawback of the project), community facilities unusual for the American environment – a rooftop urban farm, a nursery for 120 children, a daycare, and a shared terrace on the 9th floor. The building aims to have an impact on the wider Harlem surroundings through densification and the blending of residential and cultural-social functions of the building.
The third major theme is “African Metropolitan Architecture” (2011), an illustrated essay, studies of African cities that Adjaye has divided into six geographical regions based on climate, history, and culture. The “laboratory” observations allowed Adjaye, in his own words, to formulate ideas and scenarios for understanding the processes occurring in the city, their modernization.
A catalog has been published in conjunction with the exhibition by Yale University Press with essays by both exhibition curators, Zoë Ryan and Okwui Enwezor, David Adjaye, Peter Allison, and others.
Notes:
1) Okwui Enwezor, Gestures of Affiliation, in: Okwui Enwezor, Zoë Ryan, David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material, New Haven, 2015, p. 4
2) Okwui Enwezor, Zoë Ryan, David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material, New Haven, 2015, p. 23
The exhibition curator Okwui Enwezor speaks of Adjaye's architecture as postcolonial realism architecture (1). According to Enwezor, Adjaye's approach brings a necessary African postcolonial and cosmopolitan perspective within contemporary architecture while placing Africa in the context of modernization within the conditions of the emerging African economic boom. Adjaye represents a shift in global networks of knowledge and the rise of experts who deny traditional hegemonic structures of cultural capital. One cannot but agree with Enwezor. Adjaye, originally from Tanzania, grew up in Uganda and studied in London at Southbank University and later at the Royal College of Arts. He currently leads a global architectural office with over 100 employees on three continents and presents the impression of a polished English intellectual firmly rooted in London's cosmopolitan environment of designers, fashion designers, and collaborating with world-renowned artists such as Chris Ofili or Olafur Eliasson.
In relation to architecture, Adjaye is able to precisely articulate his own stances concerning history and actively reflects upon the current developments in architectural discourse: “Modernity created templates, not solutions. I borrow from the positives and intelligence of modern architecture – how it translated the industrial world into architecture and how it thought about density and the articulation of vertical and horizontal planning. This serves as a framework for me.”(2) He connects to modernism on one hand, as is evident from his consideration of abstract form, construction, and the social role of architecture. At the same time, it is in the moment of translation where the main key to David Adjaye's success lies – he is able to articulate his sources of inspiration – African abstraction or ornamental motifs in forms that are comprehensible in a Euro-Atlantic context. Adjaye's architecture is characterized by an emphasis on materiality, with the principles of ordering and layering being significant for him. He is not afraid to connect opposing positions from the perspective of Europeans. Adjaye perceives architecture as a social commitment – which he translates into designs for public buildings and museums, a holistic approach to sustainable and ecological architecture, or in the complex analysis of African cities and their urban development of the continent in the project “African Metropolitan Architecture”.
The exhibition was created as a collaboration between Haus der Kunst and the Art Institute of Chicago and presents not only architecture but also the working procedures and methods that Adjaye utilizes. Its relatively classical format as an architectural solo exhibition is based on intensive research in Adjaye's office and archive, an intense dialogue between the architect and both curators, and visits to realized architectural projects. In the process of conceptualizing Adjaye's work, thematic sections and overlapping layers of formal presentation in the form of landscapes "mock-ups" of ornamental facades, models, and Adjaye's authorial objects, along with interventions such as the Horizont pavilion or a concrete white line on a gray background that visually demarcates the space of the entire exhibition, which like Ariadne's thread guides the viewer's gaze from storyboard to storyboard, gradually expanding their horizon of knowledge.
In the introductory room of the exhibition, we find Adjaye's sketches – he considers the sketch to be his main medium, the essence of architectural design, and a catalog of real materials that Adjaye uses in his projects. The dimension of the materiality of architecture intertwines throughout the exhibition, whether in the aforementioned wooden objects, granite on the border between architecture and object, or mock-ups of the ornamental facades of Adjaye’s houses.
The borrowed Horizon pavilion, created in collaboration with Olafur Eliasson (London, Rome, 2007-2008), conveys the spatial impression of architecture at a 1:1 scale. It consists of two interlocking triangles made of a black lattice structure, demonstrating the essence of David Adjaye's architecture – according to the author’s words “it is a system that frames a certain position, an abstract narrative of compression, expansion, and perspective.” The pavilion appears very intense both as a perspective-light game as well as a podium from which surprised visitors can observe a photograph of the horizon of the Sea of Galilee.
In the second room “Living spaces” are models of Adjaye's realizations, primarily housing. The white models are uniform in scale, making it possible to compare them as a fictional city, the white color demonstrating Adjaye's way of thinking – revealing primary elements of form, primary structure, positive and negative space. The models are supplemented with video and image documentation for each project. Among the most well-known projects is the Elektra house in London (London 2000) or the so-called Dirty House (London, 2002) as well as other Adjaye realizations, characterized by the contrast of introverted black facades and bright white interiors.
In the next two rooms entitled “Democracy of Knowledge”, more extensive Adjaye projects are presented, among the most interesting are Idea-Stores, public libraries, a silk factory in Varanasi associated with the architect-initiated revival of the production of exclusive handwoven silk, or the recently completed Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. The pyramid-shaped museum provides an intelligent way of vertical lighting; the handcrafted ornamental bronze facade with African motifs resembles Nouvel's Institut du Monde Arabe. It is the essence of Adjaye's abstract work and translation of cultural motifs and meanings. The models are supplemented with a so-called storyboard, usually photographs that accumulate in Adjaye's office on a board as a “cloud” of visual architectural motifs and principles, which the curators sorted in collaboration with David Adjaye, providing insight into Adjaye's varied sources of inspiration and working methods.
Adjaye's urban studies and designs form the penultimate section of the exhibition. A highlight is the design of the recently completed Sugar Hill project in Harlem, New York. It is a block structure characterized by the setback of the last four floors and a triangular, jagged cornice. The brutalist facade made of precast concrete panels is covered with a second skin – a shiny glass film of abstracted roses. Adjaye deliberately refers to the brutalist aesthetic, which he considers to be the most interesting and progressive of British architecture from the second half of the twentieth century. The project includes 124 social housing units (the apartment layouts seem to be the only drawback of the project), community facilities unusual for the American environment – a rooftop urban farm, a nursery for 120 children, a daycare, and a shared terrace on the 9th floor. The building aims to have an impact on the wider Harlem surroundings through densification and the blending of residential and cultural-social functions of the building.
The third major theme is “African Metropolitan Architecture” (2011), an illustrated essay, studies of African cities that Adjaye has divided into six geographical regions based on climate, history, and culture. The “laboratory” observations allowed Adjaye, in his own words, to formulate ideas and scenarios for understanding the processes occurring in the city, their modernization.
A catalog has been published in conjunction with the exhibition by Yale University Press with essays by both exhibition curators, Zoë Ryan and Okwui Enwezor, David Adjaye, Peter Allison, and others.
Notes:
1) Okwui Enwezor, Gestures of Affiliation, in: Okwui Enwezor, Zoë Ryan, David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material, New Haven, 2015, p. 4
2) Okwui Enwezor, Zoë Ryan, David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material, New Haven, 2015, p. 23
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