Ghanaian-Scottish architect and educator Lesley Lokko has been named this 12 months’s Royal Institute of British Architects laureate of the Royal Gold Medal, 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 award on her personal – relatively than as a part of a staff – because it was based in 1848. The others are architects Zaha Hadid and Yasmeen Lari.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) stated Lokko was chosen for his “relentless pursuit of inclusion and fairness within the subject”.
“A fierce champion of fairness and inclusion in all features of life, Lesley Lokko’s progressive strategy to structure schooling gives hope for the long run—a career that welcomes these from all walks of life, considers the wants of the environment, and acknowledges a variety. of cultures and views,” stated RIBA President Muyiwa Oki.
“A visionary agent of change, Lesley has devoted her life to upholding these values, not solely by way of her educational endeavors, but in addition by way of her work as an creator and curator,” he continued.
“She stays a humble revolutionary drive, her ambition and optimism making an indelible mark on the worldwide architectural scene.”
Lokko is finest often called the founding father of the African Futures Institute (AFI), an impartial college of structure in Accra, Ghana that exists to reimagine “Africa because the crucible of the long run.”
Extra lately, she made waves because the curator of the 18th Venice Worldwide Structure Biennale. She was the primary particular person of African descent to arrange the occasion.
Lokko described profitable the RIBA Royal Gold Medal as “such a shock” and “a testomony to the individuals and organizations I’ve labored with who share my objectives”.
“That was by no means on the playing cards,” she displays.
“I’m delighted to be thought-about alongside a number of the nice earlier winners of the Royal Gold Medal. Though this can be a private award, this isn’t only a private triumph, this can be a testomony to the individuals and organizations I’ve labored with. who share my objectives,” continued Lokko.
“I entered structure searching for certainties, searching for solutions. As an alternative, I discovered questions and prospects, a lot richer, extra curious and empathetic methods of decoding and shaping the world. Structure gave me language, in all its kinds – visible, written. , constructed, interpreted – and that language, in flip, gave me such hope.”
Lokko has a PhD in Structure from the College of London and is the creator of the essay assortment White Papers Black Marks, in addition to 13 novels, together with Sundowners.
For the previous 20 years, she has taught structure to college students world wide. She based the Graduate Faculty of Structure on the College of Johannesburg and served as Dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Faculty of Structure on the Metropolis Faculty of New York.
Her version of the Venice Structure Biennale was referred to as the Laboratory of the Future and explored the themes of decarbonisation and decolonization by way of the lens of Africa. In an unique interview with Dezeen forward of the occasion, she stated Africa was “a strong place from which to look at the problems that may dominate the subsequent century”.
The 2024 Royal Gold Medal will probably be formally offered to Lokko in London on 2 Might 2024. A number of different awards for Lokko are to comply with, together with an OBE in 2023 for her providers to structure and schooling and the RIBA Annie Spink Award in 2020 for her ” contribution excellent in architectural schooling”.
This 12 months’s choice committee was chaired by Chairman Oki and consisted of 2023 Royal Gold Medal winner Lari, RSHP Senior Accomplice Ivan Harbour, London Faculty of Structure Director Neal Shasore and Walters & Cohen Accomplice Cindy Walters.
Different ladies who’ve gained the RIBA Royal Gold Medal embody Ray Eames, Patricia Hopkins, Sheila O’Donnell, Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell.
Earlier winners additionally embody Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Learn the jury’s full quotation under:
Professor Lesley Lokko is an educator, creator and curator. An enlightened architect and renaissance determine who left an indelible mark on the worldwide stage. For over 20 years, Lokko has been rightly acknowledged for her modern contributions to architectural schooling, dialogue and discourse from a International South perspective – relentlessly pursuing inclusivity and fairness within the subject. Not solely is Lokko the primary African girl to obtain this honor, she now takes her place among the many defining figures of structure.
Considered one of her flagship achievements is the Architectural Futures Institute (AFI) situated in Accra, Ghana – an architectural schooling middle that reimagines Africa as a crucible of the long run, the place new city kinds are collaboratively conceived. AFI is a beacon, recognizing the contributions of ladies within the African diaspora. It extends an invite to embrace alternative and exalts courageous and inventive voices.
A guiding drive for creativity, Lokko’s curatorial prowess shone brilliantly in his current stewardship of the 2023 Venice Biennale, a ground-breaking occasion that united African and African architectural expressions for the primary time. It was a platform the place rising and established African architects and designers converged to create the ‘Future Laboratory’, a six-part exhibition that ignited the discourse on decarbonisation and decolonisation. Below Lokko’s tutelage, Nigerian artist, designer, architect and grasp builder, Demas Nwoko was the primary particular person of shade to obtain the distinguished Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on the Venice Worldwide Biennale.
Her pivotal position on the board of London’s pioneering New Structure Writers program, devoted to supporting “professionals of shade who’re underrepresented in design, journalism and curation,” underscores her dedication to variety. Notably, Lokko’s seminal work White Papers Black Marks was revealed over 20 years in the past in 2000. In 2020 she obtained the RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Training for her impactful management, ardour and dedication adamant about structure schooling and analysis. notably her lectures and revealed works that concentrate on subjects of race, id and structure.
Whereas Lokko’s affect extends past structure, this honor acknowledges his prodigious contributions to the sector of structure. Her work helps numerous approaches to follow and pushes the boundaries of what structure is and what it may obtain.
She passionately advocates for people from all walks of life to participate within the tapestry of structure; and her interpretation of structure as tradition, an artwork type that encourages public dialogue centered on concepts and content material, relatively than simply perform, democratizes structure, making it accessible to all.
Lokko’s work is a clarion name for equitable illustration within the insurance policies, planning and design that form our residing areas. Her pedagogical footprint spans numerous cultural landscapes, from the USA and Nice Britain to South Africa and Ghana.
This medal honors Lokko’s booming voice. It’s a testomony to her unwavering dedication to advancing architectural schooling and redressing imbalances by amplifying the voices of individuals underrepresented in shaping our constructed setting.