Celebrated British-Ghanaian architect, Sir David Adjaye known to have designed Ghana’s National Cathedral has been accused of sexual misconduct by multi-women.
According to the Finanacial Times, allegations ranging from sexual assault to harassment have been leveled against the internationally known architect by three former employees.
The three women allege that their interactions with Adjaye have seriously distressed their mental health, damaged their professions, and put them in dangerous financial situations.
Sir Adjaye’s attorney recognized the women’s complaints but refuted any claims of sexual misbehavior, abuse, or criminal activity.
The women, whose names have been changed at their request, have similar traits. They are all single mothers, accomplished professionals, and members of powerful families who were all black women in their forties at the time of the alleged abuse. Before starting their jobs, all three women were acquainted with Adjaye through mutual friends and acquaintances.
They joined his company because they wanted to support their families and because they shared his commitment to showcasing the top black talent in the business. One of the women claimed that his mission to change African architecture had particularly motivated her.
They claimed they felt forced to speak out about their ordeals in order to shield other women from experiencing the same abuse and to expose the architect’s personal actions. The Financial Times is said to have interviewed coworkers, family members, and acquaintances who had received confidential information from the women in all three cases, as well as examined contemporaneous emails, documents, and text messages in an effort to verify their claims.
Sir David Adjale was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017 and made a member of the prestigious Order of Merit last November by King Charles III. He is seen by many as a champion of diversity in a very white profession. “It’s a heavy thing being put on a gilded pedestal,” he once said in an interview.
In 2021, he was awarded the Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects, with the guest of honour at the virtual ceremony being Barack Obama, who had inaugurated the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington in 2016 – one of the crowning achievements of Adjaye’s gilded career designing buildings around the world. Obama was in no doubt about the talent of the Ghanaian-British architect: “Genius, pure and simple.”
