Shawn Adams is a man of many hats and talents. His graduation project for the master’s programme at the Royal College of Art explores informal relationships and, more specifically, how ‘young African men in Agbogbloshie come together to form a new way of life’. His design creates five spaces near the 20-acre material graveyard in Ghana, where African men – known as burner boys – try to extract the metals inside electronic devices.
The proposal comprises a total of 14 plinths and three canopies made from e-waste, which comments on both material and spatial uses. ‘I want to widen the remit of what architecture is,’ says Adams. ‘I want to challenge architectural canon and what is often perceived as relevant or influential design. This is one of the reasons I try to use writing as a platform to bring underrepresented stories and narrative to the forefront of discussions.’
To that end, Adams co-founded the POoR Collective in 2019, a social enterprise that focuses on empowering and supporting young people to get their voice heard, working with community centres, built environment professionals and local authorities.
He is also a member of the second cohort of New Architecture Writers, a free programme for emerging BAME design critics. ‘I am interested in getting into other creative fields such as art, fashion and product design. I also want to explore writing, speaking and broadcasting, and would like to present design and architectural history documentaries,’ he says.
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