Last week, the White House held its very own arts and culture festival in D.C., South by South Lawn (SXSL). Organizers arranged a list of panel discussions and programs that brought together a diverse troupe of creatives for a "festival of ideas, art, and action.” SXSL kicked off with a conversation between illustrious light artist James Turrell and award-winning architect David Adjaye, which was streamed live on The Creators Project’s Facebook Page. — thecreatorsproject.vice.com

I was completely moved by the corona motif. It seemed like a way to start to tell a story that moves from one continent, where people were taken, along with their cultures, and used as labor, then contributed towards making another country and new cultures. That history then continues in the decorative patterning of those panels. — New York Times

Now in its tenth year, the prize celebrates ‘the achievements of designers who are making or who have made a significant difference to our lives through innovation, originality and imagination’, with past winners including Zaha Hadid, Marc Newson and Dieter Rams. — wallpaper.com

Standing assertively in the middle of a 15-acre lawn, between the sharp white obelisk of the Washington Monument and the colossal stone shed of the National Museum of American History, the latest arrival to this hallowed parade ground certainly holds its own. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture erupts from the ground, an inverted pagoda of three angular bronzed tiers on an all-glass base, departing from its neighbours’ sombre palette...with joyous glee. — the Guardian

“It’s about architecture, but also about memory and history,” Adjaye says when we meet at the site on a cloudy afternoon in mid-May. “I got exactly what I wanted on the exterior, which was a dark, brooding, bronzelike building.”  Before going inside, he points out what he calls the “oculus,” a circular raised platform at the west entrance through whose glass windows you can see the room below. “We found out that this spot was once a slave market, right on the Mall,”  he says. — Vogue

‘David says I’m the ears and he’s the eyes,’ Peter says of their working relationship. ‘When I see architecture I hear sounds – I respond to the visual. David responds to sound – he creates with a soundtrack in his mind.’

The collaboration first started in 2003 with the Asymmetric Chamber – an architectural installation that Manchester’s CUBE gallery commissioned David to design. As part of the work, Peter composed a soundscape titled ‘Echoes’ to play in the space. — thespaces.com

[Project leader Zena] Howard focuses on all of the aspects of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but hones in on the porch, which happens to span 200 feet and it serves as an transitional space between the outside and inside of the museum.

“I think that the porch is…quintessential America,” [...]

“This project—not only given the scale, the complexity, the political and contextual sensitivities—is an amalgam of all the problems that we, as architects, love to solve” — blackyouthproject.com

Syracuse University is one step closer to selecting a world-class partner to conceptualize, design, and construct the new National Veterans Resource Complex (NVRC). The NVRC Selection Committee, made up of faculty, staff, students, and design professionals, recently reviewed the qualifications of 28 of the world’s foremost architecture firms. [...] has selected three finalists to advance to the final round of the competition. The finalists are: Adjaye Associates; SHoP; and Snohetta. — nvrc.syr.edu

The pervading sentiment in the architectural community is that Adjaye, a Ghanaian British architect, is the odds-on favorite...

What no one has suggested publicly (though its oft-mentioned in social settings) is that Adjaye will be chosen because he is black. The rationalization is President Obama will “naturally" tap him for the job...

Adjaye, who was born in Tanzania to Ghanian parents, and holds British citizenship, has a very different experience than his African American peers... — ArtNet

Mr. Adjaye’s public architecture often poses questions about the value systems historically associated with building types. [...]

His explorations into African textile patterns, tribal mythologies, the legacy of slavery and postcolonial modernism are far from predictable sources for architecture. [...]

...the collection of images provides a fascinating look at the transmogrification of European ideas into African shapes. — wsj.com

A raft of museums, most backed by private money, are springing up in what is, for many, an unlikely cultural hub: Beirut, the capital of Lebanon [...]

The design competition launched on 1 October; the architect Zaha Hadid is on the jury along with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones of London's Serpentine Galleries.

Salamé, who founded the Aïshti fashion chain, invested $100m in funding a contemporary art museum, designed by the British architect David Adjaye, in Jal El Dib [...]. — theartnewspaper.com