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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced that professor Lesley Lokko, the acclaimed Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, author, racial advocate, and curator, will receive the Royal Gold Medal 2024 for architecture - she is the first woman of African descent to receive the prestigious award.
Lokko has devoted her career to amplifying under-represented voices and exploring the complex correlation between architecture, identity and race. Her contributions have had a profound, global influence on architectural education, dialogue and discourse.
The RIBA Honours Committee 2024 praised Lokko's perseverance and determination to "democratize architecture" as a "clarion call for equitable representation in policies, planning, and design that shape our spaces."
RIBA president Muyiwa Oki said Lokko is a fierce champion of equity and inclusion. "Lesley Lokko's 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," he said.
"A visionary agent of change, Lesley has dedicated her life to championing these values, not only through academic endeavors, but through her work as an author and curator. She remains a humble revolutionary force, with her ambition and optimism etching an indelible mark on the global architectural stage."
In 2021, Lokko founded the African Futures Institute (AFI) in Accra, in Ghana. The institute was established to create a new model of education, research and public dialogue. Operating as a pan-African think tank, the institute provides advanced education and research to address contemporary obstacles associated with race, environmental justice, and emerging urban structures.
Before launching AFI, Lokko took on various teaching positions across the world, with the objective of reframing architecture courses to democratize, decolonize and progress architectural education. Some of her notable academic roles include founder and director of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg and dean of The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York.
In 2023, Lokko was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contributions to both architecture and education. That same year, she was curated of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Titled The Laboratory of the Future, the exhibition placed Africa at its centre and included its first ever educational component.
On being named the recipient of the 2024 RIBA Gold Medal, Lokko said she was shocked. "It came as such a surprise to me. This was never on the cards. I'm delighted to be considered alongside some of the great past winners of the Royal Gold Medal. Although this is a personal award, this isn't merely a personal triumph, this is a testament to the people and organisations I have worked with that share my goals," she said.
"I came into architecture seeking certainties, looking for answers. Instead, I found questions and possibilities, far richer, more curious, and more empathetic ways to interpret and shape the world. Architecture gave me language, in all its forms - visual, written, built, performed - and that language, in turn, has given me such hope."
The Royal Gold Medal 2024 will be presented to Lesley Lokko in London on 2 May 2024.
