David Adjaye, Principal of Adjaye Associates, will be knighted in recognition for his services to architecture by Her Majesty the Queen, as announced in the New Year 2017 Honours lists on Saturday 31st December.

The knighthood caps off a historic year for David Adjaye. In September the architect celebrated his 50th birthday and completed the largest project in his career to date – the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History & Culture on Washington DC’s National Mall. Also in 2016 Adjaye’s practice Adjaye Associates won the competition to design Latvia’s first Museum of Contemporary Art and were announced as the master plan architects for the major San Francisco Shipyard redevelopment. Most recently, the firm was shortlisted to design the UK’s National Holocaust Memorial.

David Adjaye said, “I am truly honoured and humbled to receive a knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen for my contribution to architecture. I see this not as a personal celebration, but as a celebration of the vast potential – and responsibility – for architecture to effect positive social change. that we as architects have to bring something positive to the world. I am proud to continue to work in service of this mission as a global cultural ambassador for the UK.”

In an official statement The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St. James’s Palace said: “David Adjaye is recognised for his contribution to architecture and design. He is one of the leading architects of his generation and a global cultural ambassador for the UK. His designs include the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo in the shell of a disused railway station and the Whitechapel Idea Store in London where he also pioneered a new approach to the provision of information services as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver and numerous private commissions. His most recent major achievement was the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.”

The kinghood follows two previous royal awards received by David Adjaye – the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours in October 2016 and an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007. The official Investiture ceremony will take place in 2017.