Constructed Narratives brings together essays and several recently completed buildings by David Adjaye, in the United States and elsewhere. In the essays, Adjaye shows how his approach to the design of temporary pavilions and furniture, private houses, and installations at the 2015 Venice Biennale feeds into his designs for public buildings. Other essays discuss his engagement with geography, the urban environment, his approach to materiality, and architectural types. The presented projects include two public libraries and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, all in Washington D.C., a residential mixed-use building in New York, and a hybrid art-retail building in Beirut. Two of Adjaye’s current projects are also included.
Featured image, of the landscaped waterfront space of the Aishti Foundation Beirut (2012-2015), is reproduced from 'David Adjaye: Constructed Narratives.'
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FROM THE BOOK
Excerpt from the chapter, "Geography and Architecture in Africa"
From the outside, Africa may look like a tabula rasa, the site of a long line of experiments that have little to do with each other, but closer acquaintance confirms that it is contested ground where the local conditions have been transformed by outside forces. This has echoes in the wider world, where the effects of globalization have undermined the identity of familiar places. In most of the situations I look at as an architect, many histories overlap, and I try to avoid the temptation to draw out one of them at the expense of the others. Rather than responding to physical traces, I prefer to extrapolate the emotive conditions suggested by earlier narratives. These may involve setting up a sense of denial, of opportunity, reflection, aloofness, or conviviality, any of which can contribute to the atmosphere of the building - the device that first communicates what a building has to offer.
My desire to understand the attributes of African cities by classifying them in groups does not entirely recognize the nature of some of their differences. Earlier in their history many of the capitals had strong international links, which have remained equally or more significant since independence. In the case of Accra in the 1950s and 1960s, for example, President Nkrumah began to restructure the city in response to its new status as the capital of a republic that would play a significant role within Africa and on the world stage. This double orientation, inward to the country and outward to the rest of the globe, can be seen in many capitals but is a feature of the African cities, which are often separated by great distances. The specific orientation of the African cities, and the strength of their external connections, can make a significant difference to the identities of cities in the same geographic terrain.
In the contemporary world, cities are widely understood in terms of their physical infrastructure, development patterns, and the character of their buildings. Upper Harlem, the National Mall in Washington, DC, and Beirut's waterfront are all places that are known and appreciated on this basis. In wishing to address the expectations of a diverse public, I am interested in moving away from a position where architecture is judged in terms of a single criterion of progress, to one in which several scenarios can be considered at the same time. - David Adjaye
FORMAT: Pbk, 6.5 x 9.5 in. / 320 pages, 361 illustrations. LIST PRICE: U.S. $49.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $65 ISBN: 9783037785171 PUBLISHER: Lars Müller Publishers AVAILABLE: 1/25/2017 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Lars Müller Publishers. Edited by Peter Allison.
Constructed Narratives brings together essays and several recently completed buildings by David Adjaye, in the United States and elsewhere. In the essays, Adjaye shows how his approach to the design of temporary pavilions and furniture, private houses, and installations at the 2015 Venice Biennale feeds into his designs for public buildings. Other essays discuss his engagement with geography, the urban environment, his approach to materiality, and architectural types. The presented projects include two public libraries and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, all in Washington D.C., a residential mixed-use building in New York, and a hybrid art-retail building in Beirut. Two of Adjaye’s current projects are also included.
