oris
Deyan Sudjic v nekem besedilu opiše vašo arhitekturo kot vključeno v prostor, a svetovljansko. Obstajajo tudi druga mnenja, ki poudarjajo vpliv severnoafriške vernakularne arhitekture, kot so maroška ulica, berberska hiša in tako naprej. Kako vidite svoj položaj znotraj teh interpretacij?

adjaye
Interpretacije so samo to, kar so, torej interpretacije. Sam ustvarjam delo in prek njegovega posredovanja se ustvarja pomen, povezan z delom. Ne začenjam iz ideje, da je to interpretacija nečesa. To me ne zanima. Delam tako, da poskušam razumeti, kako ustvariti sintezo ali rešitev določenega arhitekturnega problema, potem pa se okoli tega ustvarja pomen. V tem diskurzu je name vplivala cela vrsta stvari, toda moj primarni impulz je pojem prežemanja, ki je zame določena oblika bližine. Bližina je moč, to je stvar, ki spodbudi način, na katerega želimo izpeljati delo. Ti modeli so nekako jasneje razvidni iz konteksta, saj se večina vernakularnih kontekstov dotika ozko povezanih skupnosti, tako da je po svoje preprosteje izpeljati relacijske primerjave o teh stvareh. Vendar ne gre za specifično interpretacijo vernakularnega v mestu. Gre za idejo bližine.

oris
Ideja bližine ali tesnosti je deloma posledica dejstva, da je večina vaših stavb zgrajena v Londonu in New Yorku, v gostem urbanem območju z močno že zgrajeno pokrajino. Vedno delate z idejo kontrasta. Ko gradite v okolju hiš iz opeke, vstopate v ta evokativna okolja s specifično estetiko, supermoderno, elegantno in abstraktno. Mislim, da je vaše delo deloma definirano od zunaj, iz zgrajenega okolja, vi pa potem ustvarjate njegov kontrapunkt.

adjaye
Vsekakor bi rekel, da kontekst zelo močno vpliva na strategijo dela. Kontekst ne pomeni vpliva zato, ker je urban, ampak zato, ker me izjemno zanima strategija, ki vzpostavlja specifičnost. Ta specifičnost se ustvarja iz branja mesta, in sicer tako, da nastane sinteza. Sinteza lahko obstaja samo ta trenutek in v tem primeru se bo kontekst očitno spremenil, stavba pa postala nepomembna na katerokoli način razen na tistega, ki je povezan s spremembo. Sinteza je zame primarna avtorska kakovost, ki se mora zgraditi. Seveda je moja avtorska težnja izrazita. Jaz sem avtor dela, vendar želim avtorstvo deliti s kontekstom, saj je to tradicionalno tisto, kar arhitekti počnemo. O tem ne razmišljam nujno v kategorijah arhitekture in proporcev arhitekture, ampak bolj v kategorijah urbanih in socioloških fenomenov dela na lokaciji, in to uporabljam kot potencialno sredstvo za ustvarjanje.
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oris
Deyan Sudjic described your architecture as integrated in place but cosmopolitan. There are other opinions that enhance this influence of Northern African vernacular architecture, like Moroccan street, Berber house and so on. How do you see your position within this interpretation?

adjaye
Interpretations are just interpretations. I make the work and it becomes a form of agency for meaning to be formed around it. I don’t make the work starting from the notion that this is an interpretation of something, I’m not interested in that. I work away from trying to understand how to bring a synthesis or resolution to an architectural problem, and then comes meaning around it. In that discourse I am very influenced by a wide range of things, but my primary driver is this notion of imbrication which for me is a kind of a tight proximity. Tighter proximity is the power, it’s the thing that drives the way in which I want to make the work. In a way, these models are more clearly seen in the context, because most vernacular contexts are about tight woven communities, so in a way it’s easier to make relational comparisons with those things. But it’s not specifically about an interpretation of vernacular into a city. It’s about the idea of closeness.

oris
This idea of proximity or closeness partly derives from the fact that most of your buildings were built in London and New York, dense urban areas with sturdy presence of existing built landscape. You always operate with idea of contrast, because you’re constructing in the setting of brick houses and you enter these evocative environments with a specific aesthetic which is super-modern, sleek and abstract. I think that your work is partly defined from the outside, from the built environment and then you actually construct its counterpoint. How do you see it?

adjaye
I would definitely say that the context has a very powerful influence on the strategy of the work. The context is the influence not because it’s urban but because I’m very interested in the strategy which sets up specificity. That specificity is generated from a reading of the place in a way which makes synthesis. The synthesis can exist just for that moment and then obviously the context will change and then the building becomes irrelevant in any sense but that of the change. That synthesis is for me the primary authoring quality that needs to be built up. Of course, I have a powerful authoring tendency and the work is authored by me, but I want to share the authoring with the context, because traditionally that’s what architects do. I don’t think about it necessarily in the terms in which the architecture and the proportion of architecture work, but more in the terms in which the urban and sociological kind of phenomena of the site work, and I use that as a potential agent for making something.
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