A number of institutions have cut ties with David Adjaye following allegations from three women of sexual assault and sexual harassment, first published in an investigation by the Financial Times on 4 July, while he has resigned from several projects and positions.
The Africa Institute in Sharjah, UAE, on 10 July cancelled its major new 32,000m2 campus project designed by Adjaye Associates. It had been intended to house their interdisciplinary academic research institute, with designs for the campus first unveiled two years ago.
On 6 July New York’s Studio Museum in Harlem announced that they will no longer work with his firm, Adjaye Associates, on a new building that has been planned for its Manhattan home. ‘The actions being alleged are counter to the founding principles and values of the Studio Museum,’ Raymond J. McGuire, chairman of the museum’s board, stated.
The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, has also put a presentation of a large-scale sculptural work by Adjaye on ‘indefinite hold’.
Meanwhile, the architect is no longer working on the UK National Holocaust Memorial, nor as part of the design team for The Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon. Adjaye has also stepped down from his role as architectural adviser to London mayor Sadiq Khan and resigned as one of the trustees of the Serpentine Galleries.
While Adjaye has denied the allegations, he has also offered an apology for his actions: ‘I am ashamed to say that I entered into relationships which though entirely consensual, blurred the boundaries between my professional and personal lives. I am deeply sorry.’
This story will be continue to be updated.
