This week on Dezeen, we covered the news that British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by three former employees.
The allegations were reported by the British newspaper The Financial Times (FT) and came from three women who worked for Adjaye in 2018 and 2019, one of whom made a criminal complaint against him.
The women said that dealing with Adjaye, who heads up his own studio Adjaye Associates, has caused them serious mental distress and financial difficulties and disrupted their careers.
In a statement to the FT, Adjaye said: “I absolutely reject any claims of sexual misconduct, abuse or criminal wrongdoing. These allegations are untrue, distressing for me and my family and run counter to everything I stand for.”
However, the allegations has led to the architect stepping down from a number of projects that he was working on. These include his role as a Design Advocate for mayor of London Sadiq Khan, which he was appointed to in 2022.
The architect has also stepped away from his formal association with the African Futures Institute and left his role as a trustee at the Serpentine Galleries.
His involvement in the design of a UK Holocaust memorial, which he was to create with Israeli architect Ron Arad, has also been suspended.
In the US, this week saw the MSG Sphere Las Vegas, the world’s largest spherical structure, lit up for the first time to celebrate the Fourth of July before its official opening in September.
The sphere is covered by a 54,000-square-metre LED screen, the largest of its kind, and was designed by the architecture studio Populous for the company behind New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG).
Prior to the official launch, passersby shot images and video of the large screen covered in swirling, lava-like red and yellow lights, which were shared online.
Another “world’s largest”-building was unveiled this week when Japanese architect Toyo Ito completed his Gaya building.
The six-storey business school at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore was built almost entirely from mass timber and is “the largest wooden building in Asia” in terms of the volume of timber used, according to the university.
In design news this week, an electric flying car received a special airworthiness certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The Armada Model Zero prototype by Alef Aeronautics can go from driving to flying by launching straight up into the air like a drone.
In other car news, designer Sabine Marcelis has unveiled her redesign of French car brand Renault’s Twingo model in time for its 30th birthday. Marcelis’ version features a translucent steering wheel and was described as an “inside-out car” by the designer.
Popular projects this week included a copper-toned home nestled into a Valencian olive grove, a “monastic” building informed by Case Study houses and a Japanese-informed apartment in London’s brutalist Trellick Tower.
Our lookbooks featured welcoming wood-panelled dining rooms and tidy minimalist kitchens.
This week on Dezeen
This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.
