The controversial cathedral and the architect, David Adjayi, accused of sexual assault

On September 22, 1966, David Adjaye, an architect and the child of a Ghanaian diplomat, was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in London with a degree in architecture, and he went on to become one of the most well-known designers in both Europe and the US.

He is widely recognized for creating residences for famous people like Ewan McGregor and Alexander McQueen but he didn't stop there; he also turned his attention to the architecture of cultural institutions like libraries, museums, art centers, and art galleries.

To have the contentious cathedral built by the man who was commonly referred to in the media as "Obama's favorite architect" the president made a vow to the god he worships.

However, he then changed it to become a national project so he could further his corrupt power. The cathedral is currently inactive despite reports that Akufo- Addo and his vice president, Mahamudu Bawumia, paid the architect more than GH32 million for consulting on the project.

However, the significance of this article is to learn how Sir David Adjaye, a renowned individual, is alleged to have sexually harassed and assaulted three former co-workers, according to investigative news that appeared in the Financial Times on July 4, 2023. Two of the women worked in the Adjaye Associates office in Accra, and the other one was based in London. The three victims are black women who knew Adjayi before starting their jobs.

According to the Financial Times article, since the allegations were made public, the architect behind renowned buildings like the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, has resigned from several positions and stated that he is seeking professional assistance for engaging in relationships that, despite being completely consensual, blurred the lines between his professional and personal lives.

David Adjayi has reportedly denied any criminal activity and called the sexual allegations upsetting and inaccurate.” This is what I know about the case. The first alleged sexual assault happened in 2018, after the two employees of Adjaye's Accra office went out to dinner with the architect to talk about the
company's cash flow issues and payroll delays, and then followed him to his corporate apartment.

The Financial Times reported that Adjaye approached the two ladies, made unwanted physical contact with them, and instructed one of them, "You have to do this" before sexually assaulting her. He allegedly gave her 4,000 Ghanaian cedi (around $880 at the time) the following day. Both the occurrence of the
sexual assault and the fact that it was the reason for the cash withdrawal—rather than to cover the cost of a police escort to help them navigate the traffic on their way to the site—are denied by Adjaye and his attorney.

The newspaper also detailed how Adjaye allegedly sexually attacked the same lady in 2019 after they had met for a project launch in a restroom at a Johannesburg airport. Eight months after reporting the assault to the company and making an attempt to file a police report in Ghana, she was abruptly sacked from Adjaye Associates. According to reports, the other woman and Adjaye had a previous sexual connection that terminated before she started working for the company.

Despite the abuse they endured at the hands of Adjayi, both of the ladies remained at the business after the attacks because they needed the money to maintain their families and had traveled to Accra to work for the company, according to the allegations. However, Adjaye's attorney says that the women were fired because other employees had expressed concerns about their behavior and competence.

A third woman claims that Adjaye sexually assaulted her after an industry gathering in London in 2019 and then promised her a job in communications at his London office. He allegedly kept up a sexually abusive relationship with her while she was working for him, humiliating her in the workplace, and making derogatory remarks about her skin tone, she claims.

She reportedly left in 2020 and filed a formal sexual misconduct complaint against him in 2022. Other employees who were spoken with by the Financial Times provided other accounts of mismanagement at the company outside of these two.

David Adjayi lost architectural commissions and resigned from official positions on July 5, when the allegations became known, and could no longer be involved in the architectural assignment for the London Holocaust Memorial and Learning Center, according to The Adjaye Associates. The Studio Museum in Harlem also made the major decision to split ways with Adjaye Associates after an official
announcement on July 6, 2023.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, he has also pulled out of a rehabilitation project with Fern Hill in Chicago, and his company was let go from its commission for the East County Library in Oregon. The Sharjah's Africa Institute announced on July 10 that it was abandoning plans for a sizable campus with
an Adjaye design in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Additionally, the Shelburne Museum in Vermont also severed connections with the architect on July 13, 2023.

Considering the serious accusations of misbehavior made against him, Shelburne Museum has severed connections with the architect and would no longer be working with him or his company, Adjaye Associates. Adjayi has severed ties with all the significant businesses he had previously worked with.

He has also resigned from his roles as a trustee of the Serpentine Galleries, a design advisor to the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and affiliation with the African Futures Institute, the curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023.

The world is aware that Akufo Addo neither knows what shame is about nor the protection of integrity because he has none to protect. Since he is worse than Adjayi, he will still retain the architect for the corruption to continue unabated, while all the major companies that have spent years working to establish a good reputation have severed ties with the architect.