David Adjaye named first recipient of Charlotte Perriand Award

David Adjaye © Ed Reeve

Given in memory of the iconic French architect and designer Charlotte Perriand, Adjaye was awarded the prize for his buildings that "go beyond becoming city landmarks" and "creating a real dialogue taking place beyond time".

The Charlotte Perriand Award will be awarded annually and be given to an influential figure who embraces Perriand's "vision and commitment to architecture, design and art".

"This is the first time the Perriand family has allowed her name to be used beyond her immediate work," stated the organisers.

Perriand’s daughter, Pernette Perriand-Barsac, said that, "When I read [Adjaye’s] words in the press or his approach that he describes on social networks, I see how great [his and my mother’s] proximity is, to the point that a real dialogue takes place beyond time."

Adjaye Associates is designing Edo Museum of West African Art in Nigeria. Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates

"[Charlotte Perriand] was really expansive in thinking about what the profession could be and understood the role of designers in their responsibility toward making the 21st century as beautiful and as empowering and as edifying [as possible] for people of all races – and for our human civilisation to thrive," said Adjaye.

Adjaye is one of the most influential names in contemporary architecture. His characteristic attributes in buildings, rich materials, artistic layers and strong tectonics in buildings trigger different emotional worlds of users.

"I'm very interested in the history of human activities, not in the history of computer activities. My buildings look like places that the humans want. It’s very important to me," Adjaye told World Architecture Community in an exclusive interview in 2018.

Dirty House completed in London in 2002. Adjaye converted a former warehouse into an art studio and apartment building. Image courtesy of Design Indaba

This is not the first prestigious award Adjaye has received. In 2021, he was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He was also awarded the 2020 Isamu Noguchi Award by the Noguchi Museum. Adjaye was named as world’s most influential architect by Time magazine in 2017. He received a knighthood as part of the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2017.

Sugar Hill Housing in Harlem, New York; Dirty House in Shoreditch; Moscow School of Management Skolkovo; the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), which opened its doors in autumn 2016; Stephen Lawrence Centre in London are among his significant projects.

Adjaye Associates' new Barbados Heritage District in Newton Plantation. Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates

His recent projects includes the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion, in collaboration with American artist Theaster Gates, the design of the new Barbados Heritage District in Newton Plantation, the Herry Groce Memorial Pavilion in Brixton, and the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also behind Agenda 111, a project transforming Ghana’s 111 hospitals.

The annual CDA awards celebrates achievements in architecture, interior design, product design, journalism, curation and photography. The programme also includes the Andrée Putman Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, interior designer Iris Apfel was awarded the 2022 Andrée Putman Lifetime Achievement Award.

Adjaye Associates is designing Africa Institute campus in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Image © Adjaye Associates

The awards gala will be held on 26 March in Paris, France.

Article originally published on World Architecture Community.