Ghanaian-Scottish architect and educator Lesley Lokko has been named the recipient of this 12 months’s Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects, making her the primary African girl to win the award.
Lokko, who can also be an educator and curator, is the third girl to obtain the distinguished accolade in her personal proper – quite than as a part of a staff – because it was established in 1848. The others are architects Zaha Hadid and Yasmeen Lari.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) mentioned Lokko has been chosen for “relentlessly pursuing inclusivity and fairness within the discipline”.
“A fierce champion of fairness and inclusion in all features of life, Lesley Lokko’s progressive method to structure schooling presents hope for the long run – a occupation that welcomes these from all walks of life, considers the wants of our surroundings, and acknowledges a broad vary of cultures and views,” mentioned RIBA president Muyiwa Oki.
“A visionary agent of change, Lesley has devoted her life to championing these values, not solely by way of educational endeavours, however by way of her work as an creator and curator,” he continued.
“She stays a humble revolutionary power, together with her ambition and optimism etching an indelible mark on the worldwide architectural stage.”
Lokko is finest often known as the founding father of African Futures Institute (AFI), an unbiased college of structure in Accra, Ghana, which exists to reimagine “Africa because the crucible of the long run”.
Extra lately, she has made waves because the curator of the 18th Worldwide Structure Biennale in Venice. She was the primary individual of African descent to curate the occasion.
Lokko described her RIBA Royal Gold Medal win as “such a shock” and “a testomony to the individuals and organisations I’ve labored with that share my targets”.
“This was by no means on the playing cards,” she mirrored.
“I am delighted to be thought of alongside a number of the nice previous winners of the Royal Gold Medal. Though it is a private award, this is not merely a private triumph, it is a testomony to the individuals and organisations I’ve labored with that share my targets,” Lokko continued.
“I got here into structure searching for certainties, on the lookout for solutions. As an alternative, I discovered questions and prospects, far richer, extra curious, and extra empathetic methods to interpret and form the world. Structure gave me language, in all its types – visible, written, constructed, carried out – and that language, in flip, has given me such hope.”
Lokko has a PhD in Structure from the College of London and is the creator of essay assortment White Papers Black Marks, in addition to 13 novels together with Sundowners.
During the last 20 years, she has taught structure to college students around the globe. She based the Graduate College of Structure on the College of Johannesburg and served as dean of The Bernard and Anne Spitzer College of Structure at The Metropolis School of New York.
Her version of the Venice Structure Biennale was named The Laboratory of the Future and explored the themes of decarbonisation and decolonisation by way of the lens of Africa. In an unique interview with Dezeen earlier than the occasion, she mentioned Africa is a “highly effective place from which to look at the problems that can dominate the following century”.
The 2024 Royal Gold Medal will likely be formally introduced to Lokko in London on 2 Could 2024. It follows a number of different awards given to Lokko, together with an OBE in 2023 for her companies to structure and schooling and the RIBA Annie Spink Award in 2020 for her “excellent contribution to architectural schooling”.
This 12 months’s choice committee was chaired by president Oki and consisted of 2023 Royal Gold Medal winner Lari, RSHP senior companion Ivan Harbour, London College of Structure’s head Neal Shasore and Walters & Cohen companion Cindy Walters.
Different ladies to have gained the RIBA Royal Gold Medal embody Ray Eames, Patricia Hopkins, Sheila O’Donnell, Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell.
Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright are additionally among the many earlier winners.
Learn the total jury quotation under:
Professor Lesley Lokko is an educator, creator, and curator. A luminary architect and renaissance determine who has etched an indelible mark on the worldwide stage. For over 20 years Lokko has been rightly recognised for her groundbreaking contributions to architectural schooling, dialogue, and discourse from a World South perspective – relentlessly pursuing inclusivity and fairness within the discipline. Not solely is Lokko the primary African girl to obtain this honour, however she additionally now takes her place amongst structure’s defining figures.
Considered one of her crowning achievements is the Architectural Futures Institute (AFI) nestled in Accra, Ghana – an architectural schooling centre, that reimagines Africa as a crucible of the long run, the place novel city types are collaboratively conceived. The AFI stands as a beacon, acknowledging the contributions of ladies from the African diaspora. It extends an invite to embrace alternatives and exalts brave and inventive voices.
A guiding power for creativity, Lokko’s curatorial prowess shone brilliantly in her latest stewardship of the Venice Biennale 2023, a groundbreaking occasion that united African and Africa-related architectural expressions for the primary time. It was a platform the place rising and established African architects and designers converged to create ‘The Laboratory of the Future’, a six-part exhibition igniting the discourse on decarbonisation and decolonization. Underneath Lokko’s curatorship Nigerian artist, designer, architect and grasp builder, Demas Nwoko was the primary Black individual to be awarded the distinguished Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on the Worldwide Venice Biennale.
Her pivotal position on the board of the pioneering New Structure Writers program in London, devoted to supporting “professionals of color who’re under-represented throughout design, journalism and curation”, underscores her dedication to range. Remarkably, Lokko’s seminal work White Papers Black Marks was printed over 20 years in the past in 2000. In 2020, she was awarded the RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Schooling for her impactful management, ardour and an unwavering dedication to architectural schooling and analysis, specifically her lectures and printed works specializing in the topics of race, id and structure.
Whereas Lokko’s impression extends past structure, this honour acknowledges her prodigious contributions to the architectural area. Her work champions numerous approaches to apply, and pushes the boundaries of what structure is, and what it might probably obtain.
She ardently advocates for people from all walks of life to partake within the tapestry of structure; and her interpretation of structure as tradition, an artwork kind that fosters public dialogue centred on concepts and content material quite than solely operate, democratises structure, making it accessible to all.
Lokko’s work is a clarion name for equitable illustration in insurance policies, planning, and design that form our residing areas. Her pedagogical footprint spans numerous cultural landscapes, from the USA and the UK to South Africa and Ghana.
This medal honours Lokko’s resounding voice. It’s a testomony to her unwavering dedication to advancing architectural schooling and redressing imbalances by amplifying the voices of underrepresented individuals in shaping our constructed surroundings.
