Earlier this week, London’s Financial Times published a bombshell 4,000-word report in which three women accused the acclaimed British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye of sexual misconduct, ranging from assault in an airport restroom to unwanted advances in his apartment. Each of the women, who remained anonymous, was a former employee at Adjaye’s eponymous firm in 2018 and 2019 when the alleged abuse took place. Adjaye has vehemently denied the accusations, calling them “untrue, distressing for me and my family, and run counter to everything I stand for.”
The extent of the consequences awaiting Adjaye—and by extension, his 200-person firm, which maintains offices in New York, London, and Accra—remain to be seen, but the immediate fallout has been swift. Within 24 hours, Adjaye announced plans to relinquish several ceremonial roles and projects. He stepped down as a Serpentine Galleries trustee, Oregon’s in-progress Multnomah County Library parted ways with his firm, his work on a Holocaust memorial was paused, and his installations at the Counterpublic triennial and DeCordova Sculpture Park are being reevaluated. He also resigned as an advisor to London mayor Sadiq Khan, who tapped Adjaye as one of the city’s “design advocates.”
