The 2017 IFI CONGRESS and African Culture & Design Festival

Photo Credit: Adjaye Associates.

The 2017 IFI CONGRESS and African Culture & Design Festival will bring together an international group of creative leaders and experts to explore the power and potential of design for human support within the built environment in developing societies and cultures around the world. Professionals from across industries will explore the 2017 IFI CONGRESS theme,World-Class Design in Regional Markets, from various regional and disciplinary perspectives through five keynote speeches. 

Over the next five weeks, IFI will spotlight the 2017 IFI CONGRESS keynote speakers through a series of communications dedicated to exploring the background and viewpoint of our experts. Each communication will feature one keynote speaker and highlight some of the work contributing to their regional and global impact.

2017 IFI CONGRESS African Culture & Design Festival 9-12 November 2017 Lagos, Nigeria

Explore cutting-edge topics, creativity and thinking that position design as a driver of economic, social and cultural development

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Reserve Your Tickets Here

Five experts in design, architecture and art Groundbreaking designs Transforming social and economic realities

SIR DAVID ADJAYE Principal, David Adjaye Associates

"His work – deeply rooted in both the present moment and the complex context of history – has envisioned new ways for culture to be represented and reflected in the built environment."  - Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

Sir David Adjaye is recognized as a leading architect of his generation. Born in Tanzania to Ghanian parents, his broadly ranging influences, ingenious use of materials and sculptural ability have established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision. He was awarded the OBE for services to architecture in 2007, received the Design Miami/ Artist of the Year title in 2011, the Wall Street Journal Innovator Award in 2013 and the 2016 Panerai London Design Medal, awarded by the London Design Festival. In 2017, Adjaye received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to architecture and was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people. Adjaye has helped to shape the intrinsic identity of an African sensibility while delivering his unique interpretation to modern materials and form within Architecture and environments. With projects spanning five continents, Adjaye works with an artist's mindset to highlight unique social and cultural realities in a way that elevates life-quality for diverse people and communities.

SELECT PROJECTS From industrial residences in his home of London to civic buildings that engage communities around the world, Sir David Adjaye is a master of exploring cultural identity through art and the built-environment.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. Photo Credit: Brad Feinknopf.

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture - NMAAHC (2016) Washington, D.C. USA - One of the architect's most anticipated and applauded undertakings to date, the massive NMAAHC (spanning 313,000 square feet or 29,000 sq. metres) was constructed on the last remnants of the National Mall in D.C.The building fuses traditional West African art with African American design to prompt a radically new experience of history and cultural identity as expressed through art.

Winding staircase inside the David Adjaye designed NMAAHC. Photo Credit: Brad Feinknopf. Falling water fountain inside the NMAAHC. Photo Credit: Brad Feinknopf.

ADJAYE ASSOCIATES Adjaye Associates now has offices in London, New York and Accra with projects in the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. These include the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2010), the Sugar Hill mixed-use social housing scheme in Harlem, New York (2015); Aishti Foundation retail and art complex in Beirut (2015); and two neighborhood libraries in Washington DC (2012). Prominent ongoing projects include a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, a major neighborhood masterplan in San Francisco, and One Berkeley, a £600 million redevelopment project in London’s prestigious Piccadilly area.

Nobel Peace Center (2005)  Oslo, Norway - Inside the Adjaye designed Nobel Peace Center, interactive media and technology abound. The stories of Alfred Nobel and Peace Prize Laureates are told through distinct immersive environments where people have the opportunity to not just view but interact with history. Room by room, viewers are called to synthesize discord, contemplating the relationship between past and present while exploring the concept of world peace.

This permanent exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center features past Peace Prize Laureates, who are displayed on electronic screens and surrounded by thousands of lights. Photo credit expedia.com.

"[Adjaye's] radicalism has been always less about material structure or form than convention and illusion, which he approaches with an artist's sensibility."  - Steve Rose, The Guardian, 2006

Design Collections Adjaye has produced a diverse set of furniture and home products, from speakers and bespoke pieces to production furniture for brand names like Knoll, Sawaya and Moroni and Moroso.

Double Zero Moroso Collection (2015). Photo Credit: Adjaye Associates. The Washington Collection for Knoll (2013). Photo Credit: Adjaye Associates.

Dirty House (2002) Shoreditch, London, UK - Constructed from a re-purposed warehouse, this art studio and apartment building known as 'Dirty House' explores the dual nature of identity with high-contrast forms and unique application of building materials. Situated in the borough of Hackney, this building was foundational to Adjaye's early career as a rising architect in the UK. Photo credit: Adjaye Associates.