Lesley Lokko, UK Royal Gold Medal-Winning Architect, Is Investing in Africa’s Future
The Ghanaian-Scottish architect and academic, who founded the African Futures Institute, received top honors from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko, pictured in Edinburgh.
Photographer: Murdo MacLeod
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Lesley Lokko challenges the discipline of architecture, even as shapes how the practice is taught. As a professor of design, she’s taught architecture students at universities in the US, UK and South Africa. The Ghanaian-Scottish architect is the founder and former director of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg, and in 2021, Lokko launched the African Futures Institute, a new model for architecture education in Accra, Ghana. Lokko also curated the most recent Venice Architecture Biennale, with contributions linked to Africa.