Our Team

David Adjaye – Design Architect

Sir David Adjaye OBE is the principal and founder of Adjaye Associates. Born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents, his broadly ranging influences, ingenious use of materials and sculptural ability have established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision. His firm, which now has offices in London, New York and Accra, has received worldwide attention for its designs of notable private residences and civic projects around the globe, including the Francis Gregory and Bellevue Public libraries in Washington; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver; the Moscow School of Management; The Nobel Peace Center in Oslo; and the Idea Stores in London.

His largest project to date, the $540 million Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in fall of 2016 and was named Cultural Event of the Year by the New York Times. In 2017, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME magazine.

Laurie Olin – Landscape Architect

Laurie Olin is a distinguished teacher, author, and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today. From vision to realization, he has guided many of his firm's signature projects, which span the history of the studio from the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC to Bryant Park in New York City. His recent projects include the AIA award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon.

Laurie studied civil engineering at the University of Alaska and pursued architecture at the University of Washington, where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. He is currently Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for 40 years, and is former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. Laurie is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. He also holds the 2011 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, the society’s highest award for a landscape architect.

Kirk Mettam – Structural Engineer

Kirk Mettam is a principal of Robert Silman Associates, a leading structural engineering firm with a specialty in structural issues related to the preservation of historic buildings. Mr. Mettam has extensive involvement in historic structures ranging from log cabins to stone masonry arch construction. Preservation projects include McMillan Reservoir, Peirce Mill (restoration and stabilization of the heavy timber interior and stone exterior mill), rehabilitation of the C&O Canal-Lock 3, the Lincoln Memorial, and Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.