麻豆社

The artist Yinka Shonibare meets international architect Sir David Adjaye, to consider how architecture can shape the world for the greater public good.

David Adjaye's most notable recent building is the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, which was opened by President Obama in September 2016. Since then, well over a million people have visited. David Adjaye reflects on the creation of a building which had to act both as a monument and a museum, and reveals the important role water played in his thinking, partly influenced by the words of Martin Luther King.

He also discusses how his travels throughout Africa have influenced his ideas about the fundamental role of buildings within specific landscapes and climates, and reflects on how the political power of architecture can establish a civic or national identity, using the long history of Rome as an example.

Producer Clare Walker

With original music by Brian Eno.