Until his 53 years David Ajayi managed to design many objects - private and public, commercial and residential, and also successfully proved himself in the field of interior and subject design, not to mention art installations. However, his museum and memorial projects brought the architect the greatest popularity. And not by chance. He believes that museums, monuments and memorials can counteract propagandistic fictions and distortions of facts concerning the past, present and future of mankind. Here are just a few examples from Ajayi's practice.
Memorial near the British Parliament against Holocaust denial
The collaborative Holocaust Memorial design by David Ajayi and Ron Arad has been awarded as the winner of the competition and is to be built in Victoria Tower Park near the Palace of Westminster. The complex, dedicated to the memory of six million dead Jews, as well as all other victims of the Nazis, will consist of an above-ground and an underground part. The ground is 23 bronze plates placed on a small artificial hill.
The passages between them symbolize the 22 countries where Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust. To get inside, the visitor must pass through one of these openings, each of which leads to a large hall that serves as a place of reflection as well as a passageway to an underground education center.
A lot of controversy arose around this project in British society. Opponents were dissatisfied with the location of the memorial - next to the British Parliament. The arguments were different: they say, the complex may interest terrorists or make it difficult to move through the square. But interestingly, a poll published in the winter of 2019 showed that 5% of Britons do not believe that the Holocaust took place at all. Such statistics shocked Ajayi.
"I think it's a very nice place - next to the parliament," he said. — This memorial makes it impossible to talk [about Holocaust denial], at least near the parliament building. I don't want anyone to be able to stand in front of parliament and deny certain truths."
Five influential politicians who at different times held the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain - John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, James Cameron and Theresa May - expressed their support for the construction of the memorial. The complex is planned to be completed by the end of 2020.
Museum in Washington against white nationalism
In 2016, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in Washington. The shape of the building - in the form of three inverted pyramids, placed on top of each other - refers to the statues of the African Yoruba people. The decorative patterns on the facade are based on the traditional hand forging of American Charleston artisans.
A tour of the museum is like a journey through the history of African Americans, from Africa to slavery to the civil rights movements. Yes, the journey begins on three subterranean levels, then guests ascend into a light-drenched walk-through gallery and end the journey at an outdoor observation deck overlooking Washington's National Avenue.
This project has become one of the most difficult for David Ajayi — strict competitive requirements, multi-year approvals, deficit of the construction budget. However, the architect called the completion of the museum the main event in his life. In his opinion, such a project is long overdue in the USA, where white nationalism is experiencing a renaissance.
"It's a good thing that I built the Smithsonian Museum," says the architect. "But it's really crazy that it's taken this long to build a narrative for an obvious story that has really affected this country deeply."
A tower in the middle of the English Channel to remind us of the state of the planet
Climate change and the dawn of the Anthropocene is another often-dismissed truth that Adjaiye wants to draw attention to with his architecture. Unfortunately, his concept for the Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory (MEMO) on the Isle of Portland in the English Channel risks remaining only on paper, as the project has not found adequate funding.
Project of the Memorial Observatory of Mass Extinction (MEMO)
According to the concept, MEMO is a Portland limestone tower with a spiral ramp inside. Visitors can climb to the top of the tower along 860 images of extinct animals (as more species disappear, the addition of the gallery was expected). In the center of the gallery is an open courtyard with a bell, which should be rung every year on the International Day of Biological Diversity, reminding of the danger of the complete disappearance of animals from the face of the Earth.
Project of the Memorial Observatory of Mass Extinction (MEMO)
David Adjaye believes that documenting what has been lost or destroyed by humanity is an important part of the climate change conversation. He is concerned that architects build "shiny towers" but do not address these important issues. "I'm not saying that architecture solves these problems. But architecture creates a representation of the world that allows people to somehow understand and compare things," he notes.
