© Josh Huskin
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Architect David Adjaye has been awarded the Charlotte Perriand Award, becoming the first-ever recipient of this international recognition that celebrates careers capable of articulating architecture, design, critical thought, and cultural commitment. Promoted by the Créateurs Design Awards (CDA), the prize highlights a body of work that goes beyond formal concerns to place architectural practice at the heart of contemporary debates on identity, memory, and representation.
Adjaye, founder of Adjaye Associates, has built a global practice deeply shaped by an African and diasporic perspective. Born in Tanzania and raised across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, his work has consistently challenged hegemonic narratives of modern architecture, incorporating historically marginalized stories, materials, and symbols. The jury specifically emphasized this ability to “connect culture, place, and politics,” aligning his practice with the spirit of Charlotte Perriand, a key figure in 20th-century design committed to a socially conscious modernity.
The Charlotte Perriand Award does not recognize a single building, but rather an intellectual and professional trajectory. In Adjaye’s case, this path includes landmark projects such as museums, cultural centers, and civic buildings that function as devices of collective memory. His architecture does not seek neutrality; it takes a stance. Each project becomes a tool to rewrite narratives, particularly those linked to African and Afro-descendant histories, grounded in agency rather than external representation.
