Studio Museum in Harlem Cuts Ties with Architect David Adjaye as Others Review Forthcoming Projects

On Thursday, New York’s Studio Museum in Harlem became the latest institution to distance itself from David Adjaye, the acclaimed architect who was the subject of a Financial Times report earlier this week that focused on allegations that he sexually assaulted and harassed three former employees.

The Studio Museum had brought on his firm, Adjaye Associates, to design a hotly anticipated new building that would significantly grow the institution in scale. But Adjaye will no longer work on that project, the New York Times reported Thursday.

“The actions being alleged are counter to the founding principles and values of the Studio Museum,” board chair Raymond J. McGuire told the Times in a statement.

Adjaye himself said in a statement to the Times that “the prospect of the accusations against me tarnishing the museum and creating a distraction is too much to bear,” echoing the language he had used to describe his resignation from certain projects in London earlier this week.

The Financial Times report featured allegations from three women who accused Adjaye of various forms of sexual misconduct, as well as of having created a “toxic work culture.” He denied the allegations, calling them “untrue,” and said, “I am ashamed to say that I entered into relationships which though entirely consensual, blurred the boundaries between my professional and personal lives. I am deeply sorry.”

The status of some other Adjaye projects in the US hangs in the balance as postponements and cancelations have followed the Financial Times investigation.

ARTnews previously reported on Wednesday that the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, put a presentation of a large-scale sculptural work by Adjaye on “indefinite hold,” and that the Counterpublic triennial in St. Louis is set to host a public dialogue about a monumental work recently installed permanently at the Griot Museum of Black History as part of the show.

But it is less clear what will happen with an institution like New Jersey’s Princeton University of Art Museum, which had brought on Adjaye to do its new building. That museum’s director, James Steward, told the New York Times that he found the accusations “troubling” and that “most of our work with Adjaye is behind us,” but did not specifically state if the institution would continue to maintain a relationship with him. A spokesperson for the museum did not respond to a request for comment.

The Shelburne Museum in Vermont announced in May that it had commissioned Adjaye to design a new center for an Indigenous art center that boasted a “highly sustainable” design. This week, the museum said it would reassess Adjaye’s involvement with the center.

Tom Denenberg, director and CEO of the Shelburne Museum, said in a statement, “In light of the serious and troubling allegations reported against David Adjaye, we are actively reviewing our engagement with the architect and his firm. Our evaluation places in the fore our immediate commitment to construction of a building and integrated landscape collaboratively designed to create a national resource for the study and care of Indigenous art. Because we are in the earliest stages of design, we have time to consider our next steps to keep this important project on track and honor our commitment to the many partners and collaborators who have been involved in the conceptualization of this important project.”

Adjaye’s work is also included in “New Publics, New York,” an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A spokesperson did not respond to request for comment.

Internationally, Adjaye’s work is featured in the Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy. He is also the architect of new buildings for the Museum of West African Art in Benin City, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi, and the Africa Institute in Sharjah.

Earlier this week, Adjaye resigned from his roles as architectural adviser to the mayor of London and as board member of the Serpentine Galleries. He also stepped back from a Holocaust memorial planned for London.