Arts·Video

Sir David Adjaye on how architecture is about more than money

At Creative Minds, the celebrated architect reflected on how consumed by capitalist agendas his profession has become.

The celebrated architect reflects on how consumed by capitalist agendas his profession has become

Sir David Adjaye on how architecture is about more than money

8 years ago
Duration 0:51
At Creative Minds, the celebrated architect said that we need to "believe in something that's more than just the market."

"Architecture has become really consumed by capitalist kind of agendas," Sir David Adjaye said when taking the stage at this past weekend's Creative Minds.

A conversation between four artists, Adjaye was joined at Creative Minds by visual artist/writer Christi Belcourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz and actor/filmmaker Paul Gross. And the celebrated architect used it as an opportunity to consider the politics of his profession.

"It's really very much driven by markets," he said. "And, you know, where those of us who are interested are very much trying to fight for a position whereby the making of structures that informs or concretizes the ideas that we have in our society are not simply just to do with market forces but to do with ideas — that we still, as architects, believe in something that's more than just the market."

Watch Adjaye's clip above, and the conversation in its entirety here.