Kunlé Adeyemi was born on the and is a Nigerian architect,

urbanist Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...

and creative researcher. Adeyemi is founder and principal of NLÉ, an architecture, design and

urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...

practice, based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Adeyemi studied at the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

in Nigeria and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, the United States. Before starting his own office in the Netherlands, he worked nearly a decade at

Office for Metropolitan Architecture The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international architectural firm with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. The firm is currently led by eight partners - Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van ...

(OMA).

Early life

Adekunle Adeyemi was born and raised in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Region, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the ...

, in the north of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, and studied and started his early career in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. His father was a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

architect and started one of the first indigenous architecture firms in North Nigeria in the 1970s.Lagos Insider's Guide 2011/12
A Time Out Nigeria magazine on the 'Best of Lagos', published July 2011, containing an interview with Adeyemi. In his mid-teens, Adeyemi had the opportunity to design his first house, for a friend of his father. Adeyemi studied architecture at the

in Nigeria, and finished his Bachelor as Best Graduate.De Toekomst van gebouwd Afrika
Meeting at the NAI (8 April 2011) Where Kunlé Adeyemi attended as discussion panel member. In 2005, Adeyemi received a Post-Professional degree at

Princeton University School of Architecture Princeton University School of Architecture is the name of the school of architecture at Princeton University. Founded in 1919, the School is a center for teaching and research in architectural design, history, and theory. The School offers an und ...

.Mapping Madrid (2006)
Urban project in which Adeyemi joined as teacher. At that university, Adeyemi investigated together with

Peter Eisenman Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which have been called high modernist or deconstructiv ...

, the rapid urbanization and the role of market economies in developing cities of the Global South, focusing on Lagos.NLÉ
Company website from the office NLÉ.

Early career

In his early career, Adeyemi worked on projects in Lagos,

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

and other parts of Nigeria.Delft University of Technology website
where Adeyemi gave a Lunch Lecture at the faculty of Architecture, about Architects in Africa (25 March 2010). After that, Adeyemi joined OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture) in 2002, where he was Senior Associate and worked for about nine years alongside its award-winning founder

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

.Trouw
Interview with Kunlé Adeyemi about rapidly developing cities in Africa. There, Adeyemi led the following projects, in different stages: * Qatar Foundation Headquarters, the Central Library and the Strategic Studies Center, in the Education City in DohaMonth of Design Conference 2008
At which Adeyemi spoke about design interventions in Asia. * The 4th Mainland Bridge and Master Plan in Lagos * The

Prada Transformer The Prada Transformer is an unusual building which has one of four different apparent shapes, depending on the function for which the building is needed at the moment. The building is roughly in the shape of a tetrahedron. Cranes rotate the build ...

project in 2009OMA website
About the Prada Transformer Project. * New Court Rothschild Bank project in London (2006).OMA website
About the Rothschild Bank Project. This bank is about to open soon
About noteworthy buildings in the UK: amongst others, the New Court Rothschild Bank. * Master plan concept for Abuja – AIST, Nigeria in 2006 for the African Institute of Science and Technology, Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and TechnologyOMA website
About the Abuja master plan concept. * Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2006,Press release
About the start of the construction work for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building.OMA website
About the Shenzen Stock Exchange Project. opened in November 2007Article on Architectenweb
About the opening of the Shenzen Stock Exchange Building. * The Seoul National University Museum project in 2005OMA website
About the Seoul University Museum project.
Interview documentary with Adeyemi and Koolhaas about the Seoul University Museum design. * The S-project Masterplan for Seoul in 2004OMA website
About the Seoul S-project.Article in the New Yorker
About Intelligent Design. * The Leeum Museum in Seoul in 2004.OMA website
About the LEUUM project.

Current work and projects

Currently, Adeyemi runs his own architecture, design and urbanism practice called NLÉ, located in

. NLÉ means 'at home' in

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

. With his office NLÉ, Adeyemi is interested in elements that make up a city. He focuses especially on the rapidly growing cities in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

. Adeyemi seeks the logic in systems that arise in the rapid development of those cities. He observes and questions the existing systems within these cities, and creates new solutions inspired by his own 'reading' of those systems. Adeyemi is convinced that there is much to learn from the type of condition that is found in rapidly developing, energetic cities, like one of Africa's most populated cities Lagos in Nigeria. NLÉ offers a strategy advisory service and focuses on city development research, conceptualisation, creative structuring, architectural-, product- and infrastructure design, arts and urban cultural intervention. In much of his recent work, Adeyemi is particularly interested in urbanization, climate change, and policy. Among others, Adeyemi conducted with NLÉ the following activities: * Building prototype housing for urban tropic environment. * ‘Queensday Lagos', to exchange the Dutch

Queensday ''Koningsdag'' () or King's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April (26 April if the 27th is a Sunday), the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. When the Dutch monarch is female, the holi ...

experience with inhabitants of

by video conferencingFacebook
Grouppage of NLÉ. *

Lagos Photo LagosPhoto Festival is the first international art festival of photography in Nigeria, launched in October 2010. It is organised by the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) as part of an ongoing project designed to use art in public spaces, as a ...

project with the African Artists' Foundation.Lagos Photo Project
Photo exhibition in Lagos, November 2010. * Makoko Floating School (collapsed June 2016). *MFS II and MFS III: the 2nd and 3rd iterations of his Makoko Floating School Project

Academic contribution

Adeyemi gave and gives lectures and workshops at universities and conferences in Amsterdam, Zurich, Delft, Guggenheim, and published several articles on architecture and urbanism: * Adeyemi is 2011 Callison Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, faculty of Architecture, teaching and researching 'The Modern City in the Age of Globalization' in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

, together with Dr. Vikramaditya Prakash, following-up

Glenn Murcutt Glenn Marcus Murcutt AO (born 25 July 1936) is an Australian architect and winner of the 1992 Alvar Aalto Medal, the 2002 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the 2009 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the 2021 Praemium Imperiale. Gle ...

.http://www.washington.edu/admin/pb/home/pdf/bgt-narratives/fy2012/Built-Environments.pdf Blog Chandigarh
India Program from University of Washington's Faculty of Architecture * At

PICNIC A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

2011 (yearly creative conference), Adeyemi spoke about organic urban growth versus city planningPICNIC
Yearly creative event in Amsterdam. * Adeyemi was visiting critic at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

in America, the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

in London, and the

Berlage Institute The Berlage Institute was an independent unaccredited postgraduate school of architecture in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that operated in 1990-2012. Named after the Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage, the Berlage Institute had an i ...

in Rotterdam * Adeyemi published the article "Urban Crawl" in the LOG Journal, summer/fall 2007, about contemporary cities and the future of architecture.Log Journal
Issue summer/fall 2007. * In 2006, Adeyemi was keynote speaker at the Guggenheim Symposium "Contamination, Impure Architecture", next to

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

Sanford Kwinter Sanford Kwinter is a Canadian-born, New York-based writer and architectural theorist, and a co-founder of Zone Books publishers. Kwinter currently serves as Professor of Theory and Criticism at the Pratt Institute. He formerly served as an associ ...

, and

Alex McDowell Alex McDowell, RDI (born 11 April 1955) is a British narrative designer and creative director. McDowell is a designer working in narrative media. He is a strong advocate of world building and immersive design and integrates digital technolog ...

Guggenheim symposium in 2006
Where Adeyemi spoke about Impure Architecture. * Adeyemi was in 2006 a teacher at the Urban Body Studio of the Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture. * Adeyemi joined

Architecture for Humanity Architecture for Humanity was a US-based charitable organization that sought architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brought professional design services to clients (often communities in need). Founded in 1999, it laid off its staff and ...

as competition juror and project reviewer.Website Architecture for Humanity
Where Adeyemi is former juror and project reviewer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adeyemi, Kunle 1976 births Living people Architects from Amsterdam People from Kaduna Yoruba architects Urban theorists University of Lagos alumni Princeton University School of Architecture alumni Nigerian expatriates in the Netherlands Urban designers Nigerian expatriate academics in the United States Nigerian urban planners 21st-century Nigerian architects

Early life

Early career

Current work and projects

Academic contribution

See also

References