Adaeze

London · Part 2 architectural assistant at a small London practice that does housing and one museum a decade

“I'm Adaeze. I decide things quickly, which people like. I'm told I should also let people help. I'm... thinking about it.”

Composed, amused, unhurried; the room arranges itself around her and she pretends not to notice. Wants to be looked at on her own terms.

ENTJ · the CommanderFrom Lagos, NigeriaEditorial / high fashion

Talents

draws a straight 60 cm line freehand; can estimate a room's dimensions to within ten centimetres by eye; speaks Igbo, English and serviceable Yoruba; tailors her own trouser hems; a completely unexpected, church-trained alto.

Favourites

Sport

tennis (plays singles on Saturday mornings; she serves and volleys, no patience for baseline rallies); watches Super Eagles matches with her father on video call

Food

her grandmother's ofe onugbu (bitterleaf soup) with pounded yam; in London, a perfect plain croissant and black coffee

Country

Portugal (Lisbon light, Álvaro Siza's buildings, sardines on a wall)

Books

Zadie Smith's NW; Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God (her father's copy); Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York; anything by Toni Morrison, re-read slowly

Films

The Godfather Part II (structure), Black Panther (the Lagos-in-the-cinema night of 2018), Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love (every coat), Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)

Music

Fela Kuti's Water No Get Enemy on Sunday mornings; Sade; Burna Boy when cooking