Adam left the boarding school in Edinburgh to rejoin his parents in London and continued his education at St. Paul's School in London. At his mother's boarding house Adam became increasingly interested in cinema after coming into contact with a number of artists among the Jewish refugees who were boarding there. He was introduced to Vincent Korda, a Hungarian art director when he was working on "Knight Without Armour" at Denham Film Studios. Korda not only nurtured Adam's passion for films, but encouraged him to train as an architect if he was interested in becoming a production designer. Leaving school he became an apprentice at the firm of CW Glover & Partners (which specialized in making bomb shelters) he signed up for evening classes at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London. Among his tutors was a part-time teacher who had been an assistant of famed German architect Erich Mendelsohn from whom Adam learned valuable architectural drawing techniques.