Ghanaian-British architect, David Adjaye has won the 2021 Royal Gold Medal, by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The prestigious award is in recognition of “an exceptional body of work over 25 years of practice.”
The Royal Institute of British Architects named David Adjaye as the winner of its 2021 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture on Wednesday, September 30, 2020.
He was selected for his global influence on the profession and “for an exceptional body of work over 25 years of practice,” according to RIBA.
Royal Institute of British Architects said, “His works reveal a core belief in the generative power of architecture. In a world that has become polarised, he brings politics, art, and science together with architecture, as he works to create a better future”.
Mr. Adjaye has been receiving congratulatory messages from a wide section of Ghanaians after winning the award.
Notable among them is a leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko.
Congratulations to the Ghanaian-British birthday boy @davidadjaye for winning the prestigious 2021 Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects! .@asaaseradio995 .@Citi973 .@Joy997FM .@GHOneTV pic.twitter.com/VWC7AfsTm0
— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) September 30, 2020
About David Adjaye
Born on September 22, 1966, Adjaye earned his B.Arch. from London South Bank University in 1990 and his M.Arch. from the Royal College of Art in London in 1993. Adjaye founded his eponymous firm Adjaye Associates in 2000, which he has grown into a global presence with studios in Accra, London, and New York.
In addition to his practice, Adjaye has taught at several architecture schools around the world, including Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Mass., and the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Sir Adjaye and his firm have received worldwide recognition including the 2018 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture for projects including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. (2016), on which he was the lead designer; Ruby City in San Antonio (2019); Sugar Hill Housing in New York (2015); the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation Paediatric Cancer Centre in Kigali, Rwanda (2015); and many others.