Kunlé Adeyemi
Kunlé Adeyemi was born on the and is a Nigerian architect, urbanist and creative researcher. Adeyemi is founder and principal of NLÉ, an architecture, design and urbanism practice, based in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Adeyemi studied at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and Princeton University in New Jersey, the United States. Before starting his own office in the Netherlands, he worked nearly a decade at Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Early life. Adekunle Adeyemi was born and raised in Kaduna, in the north of Nigeria, and studied and started his early career in Lagos. His father was  a modernist architect and started one of the first indigenous architecture firms in North Nigeria in the 1970s. In his mid-teens, Adeyemi had the opportunity to design his first house, for a friend of his father. Adeyemi studied architecture at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, and finished his Bachelor as Best Graduate. In 2005, Adeyemi received a Post-Professional degree at Princeton University School of Architecture in New Jersey. At that university, Adeyemi investigated together with Peter Eisenman, the rapid urbanization and the role of market economies in developing cities of the Global South, focusing on Lagos. Early  career. In his early career, Adeyemi worked on projects in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of Nigeria. After that, Adeyemi joined OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture) in 2002, where he was Senior Associate and worked for about nine years alongside its award-winning founder Rem Koolhaas. There, Adeyemi led the following projects, in different stages: Current work and projects. Currently, Adeyemi runs his own architecture, design and urbanism practice called NLÉ, located in Amsterdam. NLÉ means 'at home' in Yoruba. With his office NLÉ, Adeyemi is interested in elements that make up a city. He focuses especially on the  rapidly growing cities in developing countries. Adeyemi seeks the logic in systems that arise in the rapid development of those cities. He observes and questions the existing systems within these cities, and creates new solutions inspired by his own 'reading' of those systems. Adeyemi is convinced that there is much to learn from the type of condition that is found in rapidly developing, energetic cities, like one of Africa's most populated cities Lagos in Nigeria. NLÉ offers a strategy advisory service and focuses on city development research, conceptualisation, creative structuring, architectural-, product- and infrastructure design, arts and urban cultural  intervention. In much of his recent work, Adeyemi is particularly interested in urbanization, climate change, and policy. Among others, Adeyemi conducted with NLÉ the following activities: Academic contribution. Adeyemi gave and gives lectures and workshops at universities and conferences in Amsterdam, Zurich, Delft, Guggenheim, and published several articles on architecture and urbanism: