Shawn Adams

Shawn Adams is a member of the New Architecture Writers and is the co-founder of Power out of Restriction (POoR), a collective that focuses on the development of communities through the elevation of young people. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth with a 1st Class Honours degree, Shawn went on to work in Spain and then in the UK.

In 2019, he was awarded the RIBA Wren Insurance Scholarship and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust Bursary. An Alumni of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, Shawn cares deeply about creating a voice for under-represented people and endeavors to become an architect who supports marginalized communities. Shawn has written for various magazines including VICE and was recently interviewed by the Guardian to speak about being a young Black aspiring architect.

His final year design project titled 'Plinths and Tapestry' addresses the precarious conditions of the electronic waste settlement in Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Shawn questions how we can look beyond the conventions of value, beyond its monetary and necessity definitions, and recast it through the gaze of the Burner Boys to give meanings to this otherwise precarious form of life. Plinths and Tapestry approaches and questions the role of an architectural project and practice with a high level of delicacy and humility.

Plinths and Tapestry proposes five spaces to the southeast of Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Comprising 14 plinths and three canopies made from electronic waste, these interventions challenge the stigmas attached to materials and create new spatial opportunities for the local community. Ranging from 5-60 sqm, these plinths frame and elevate simple acts of daily life, respite, and togetherness. The three canopies employ various retired components to form a series of electronic tapestries. Spanning 20-40 metres these three structures are held 3-5 metres above the plinths by Asante umbrella-like systems. The proposed platforms and sheltering canopies meticulously define a set of ground conditions and material tectonic. By manipulating the existing ground condition these architectural pieces cut through the landscape to create areas for ceremonial rituals, religious practices, and everyday activities. Plinths are not only a way to simply raise people off of the ground but are an architectural form that redefines and renegotiate how the ground is made inhabitable. This is a project where experiencing areas of raw uncontaminated earth or the touch of your bare body on the intricacies and smoothness of cast electronic components becomes an enormous act of generosity and care. 

Agbogbloshie is a 20-acre material graveyard where African men – who have donned the title “Burner Boys”- see the inherent worth of e-waste. In the Western world, electronics often only serve one purpose. Once they stop functioning as intended, they are usually thrown out. They are no longer of value. However, on this former wetland, electronic items connect people, their environment, and everyday practices. Ranging from 600mm to 5 metres in height, the five spaces question how we can look beyond the conventions of value, beyond its monetary and necessity definitions, and recast it through the gaze of the Burner Boys to offer respite from their otherwise precarious form of life.

Plinths and Tapestry employs a unique formal, spatial, and material language that draws, on the one hand, from its etymological roots in Ghanaian culture (e.g. Ashanti gold weights and umbrellas); and on the other hand, from the global and highly personal remnants of electronic waste. It is a design investigation that places itself outside of the main canon of architecture. It asks: how by reconsidering the worth of materials, can practices, rituals, and everyday activities be spatialised? In the project, the role of the architect is as a listener and learner that advises on loose systems of construction which can be adapted by the residents. It is this process of engagement that allows for new values to be formed. Ultimately, at the project's heart sits the ambition to reinstall how materials are perceived and to provide spaces for new values to emerge.