Sir David Adjaye

As London’s Design Museum opens a new exhibition of Sir David Adjaye’s best and most iconic work, I’d like to write a little about what has made him such a favourite of mine.

He’s an architect that likes to bend the rules and carve his own path. “If you want a very tasteful, elegant thing you’re not going to come to David Adjaye,” he recently told the FT. “I’m very interested in clients who have a strange site that has a difficulty. Those are the projects I gravitate towards, and those are the kind of clients that gravitate towards me.”

His achievements have been recognised beyond the industry, too. In 2007 he earned an OBE, and he was knighted a decade later.

He was soon working on much grander projects, often those with social significance. He is the architect behind the UK’s National Holocaust Memorial, the National Cathedral of Ghana and the Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory - each stunning pieces of work.

Sir David also dedicates much of his time to fostering the next generation of architects. He’s held formal posts at a number of universities, including Princeton, he sits on a number of boards relating to design and architecture in the UK and around the world, including RIBA, AIA and those further afield such as the Advisory Council of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture. He is not only the mind behind many iconic pieces of architecture, but a great ambassador for our industry.