Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and curator Lesley Lokko has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), becoming the first African woman to receive the award. Lokko is not a practicing architect, but as a teacher, writer, and curator she has fought to widen access to the profession and to bring forward voices that have been disregarded for far too long. As the curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, she has shifted the focus to Africa and its diaspora, exploring the complex themes of decolonization and decarbonization. For all her contributions to the profession, Lesley Lokko will be formally presented with the medal in May 2024 by Muyiwa Oki, RIBA’s first black president.
Born in Dundee, Lokko's roots are a blend of Ghanaian and Scottish Jewish heritage. Raised in Accra, she initially pursued Hebrew and Arabic studies at Oxford, before moving to the US, to dedicate five years to sociology, law, and ultimately architecture. She graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture in 1992 before moving back to Ghana in 2000. Beyond her architectural pursuits, Lokko delved into literature while also pursuing a practice-based PhD, marked by constructing her mud-brick house, a testament to her multidisciplinary journey and commitment to both creativity and academia.
Lokko’s career has been widely recognized for invaluable contributions to architectural education, dialogue, and discourse, bringing a Global South perspective in the strive to model inclusivity and equity in the field. Her academic career continued as she became an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg in 2014, founding the first postgraduate architecture school in Africa there the following year. She also founded the Architectural Futures Institute (AFI) in Accra, Ghana, in 2021 to become a “pan-African think tank.” Initially conceived as an accredited architecture school, Lokko changed direction recognizing the need for a new model of education. This year it will launch a nomadic studio in Morocco, focused on Maghrebi identity and migration.
As the first architect of African descent to curate the Venice Architecture Biennale, she challenged the international event to become a platform for emerging and established African architects and designers. Under the theme “The Laboratory of the Future,” a six-part exhibition focused on highlighting the discourse of previously unheard voices. Under her curatorship, Nigerian artist, designer, architect, and master builder, Demas Nwoko became the first Black person to be awarded the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the International Venice Biennale.
A fierce champion of equity and inclusion in all aspects of life. Her progressive approach to architecture education offers hope for the future – a profession that welcomes those from all walks of life, considers the needs of our environment, and acknowledges a broad range of cultures and perspectives. […] She remains a humble revolutionary force, with her ambition and optimism etching an indelible mark on the global architectural stage. - Muyiwa Oki, RIBA President
This marks the second year when the RIBA Gold Medal does not go to a traditional practicing architect, in favor of innovators who find new ways of addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our times. Last year, the prestigious award recognized Yasmeen Lari, one of the most powerful voices in Pakistan and worldwide through the impact of her humanitarian work. Before this, Balkrishna Doshi earned the honor in 2022 for his visionary urban planning and social housing projects, seamlessly blending modernism with Indian vernacular. In 2021, Sir David Adjaye received the award for his groundbreaking and worldwide interventions.
