The Chicago Sun-Times has learned David Adjaye, an international rock star among architects whose work includes Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, will “step away” from a major Chicago project in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations by three of his female ex-employees.
Adjaye, a Ghanaian-British architect who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2017, had been working with Chicago real estate development company Fern Hill on a plan to rework portions of a prominent three-sided island of land, bounded by North Avenue, LaSalle Drive and Clark Street in the Old Town neighborhood.
“We have spoken with Adjaye Associates and are aware of these very serious allegations,” Fern Hill spokesperson Rebecca Carroll said Wednesday. “At this time, Sir David will step away from the project, and we will continue to move forward in the best interest of our local stakeholders and partners in this transformational opportunity for the City of Chicago.”
Adjaye’s separation from the project comes in the wake of a detailed report in Monday’s Financial Times that alleged he sexually assaulted and sexually harassed three women under his employ, beginning in 2018.
The women — whose real names were not published in the article — told the publication the encounters negatively affected their careers, finances and mental health.
Adjaye has denied the allegations and said he engaged in consensual relationships with the women.
“I absolutely reject any claims of sexual misconduct, abuse or criminal wrongdoing,” he said in a statement. “These allegations are untrue, distressing for me and my family and run counter to everything I stand for.”
Adjaye said he is “deeply sorry” and “ashamed to say that I entered into relationships which though entirely consensual, blurred the boundaries between my professional and personal lives.”
The 56-year-old architect added he will be “immediately seeking professional help in order to learn from these mistakes to ensure that they never happen again.”
The planned Fern Hill development would be the second U.S. commission lost by Adjaye as the architect and his firm have become almost radioactive following the allegations.
Officials in Oregon’s Multnomah County announced Wednesday that Adjaye “is no longer associated” with plans to design and build a 95,000-square-foot flagship public library.
Adjaye has also left his post as architectural advisor to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and stepped down as a trustee of London’s Serpentine Gallery.
In addition, Adjaye has been pushed away from the planned $180 million London Holocaust Memorial & Learning Centre.
Lord Eric Pickles, the UK’s Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust issues, told the Jewish Chronicle that government officials removed Adjaye from the project because “it was not appropriate for David to be involved at this time … The government had to swiftly act.”
The Chicago project would have allowed Adjaye to plant an architectural flag in a city he has long expressed interest in working.
In 2015, the Art Institute of Chicago hosted the first career retrospective of his work as part of the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Adjaye is friends with former President Barack Obama — who once called the architect “a genius, pure and simple” — and was a finalist to design the Obama Presidential Center now under construction in Jackson Park.
Adjaye’s design, which was not selected, would have placed the facility on the far western edge of Washington Park and on parcels across King Drive north of Garfield Blvd.
His best-known U.S. project is the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, located in the nation’s capital.
“I’ll never forget watching the [museum] rise near the White House, that bold bronze statement in a city of marble, and then having a chance to step inside and feel how this Ghanaian British architect helped tell a uniquely American story,” Obama said in a 2021 ceremony in which Adjaye received a gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
The Fern Hill effort calls for the demolition and redevelopment of the current Shell station, 130 W. North Ave., and the modernist Archway BP station at 1647 N. LaSalle Drive.
In addition to reimagining the parcels, Adjaye likely would have designed a tower on the northwest corner of West North Avenue and North LaSalle Drive. The block’s landmark Moody Church would have remained.
The project was announced in 2021. Architectural renderings have not yet been released.
Lee Bey is the Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic and a member of the Editorial Board.
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