Last week the Financial Times published an article in which the celebrated architect Sir David Adjaye, winner of the 2021 Royal Gold Medal for architecture, once described by Barack Obama as “genius, pure and simple”, was accused by three women formerly employed by him of sexual assault, sexual harassment and a toxic work culture in his practice. Adjaye has denied the more serious allegations, while saying that he was “deeply sorry” for blurring professional boundaries through what he called “entirely consensual” relationships. He would, he said, be “immediately seeking professional help in order to learn from these mistakes”.
It is beyond the scope of this article to adjudicate the merits of Adjaye’s defence, but the FT report, if true, is horrifying. Its authors say they have been working on it “for the past year”, and they describe in detail alleged events that would have been devastating to the victims. It takes great courage to talk about such experiences. The allegations are also heartbreaking. Adjaye, the most prominent black architect in the world, was – as a number of architects have said to me in the last few days – a role model. He “has been a source of pride to many”, said one, “there is a sense of shock and loss”.
