Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Professor Lesley Lokko and architect, researcher and educator Marina Tabassum have been named as the world's most influential architects in the 2024 TIME100 Next List by TIME Magazine. 

TIME Magazine's annual "best 100" list features trailblazing individuals in art, sports, business, and fashion from all over the world. The list is themed under six titles: Artists, Icons, Titans, Leaders, Innovators and Pioneers.

While Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Professor Lesley Lokko is named under the Pioneers title, Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum is listed under the Innovators title. 

Lesley Lokko, whose citation was written by American filmmaker, screenwriter and producer Ava Marie DuVernay, has been called a "force of nature."

DuVernay said that she met Lesley Lokko, the curator of last year's Venice Architecture Biennale, at the Biennial, and that she was fascinated by "her brilliance and focus."

In her quote, she underlined that Lokko's presence in the world of architecture, her new perspectives and passions will create new foundations for good. 

"But one of the things I love about her is that while she was thriving as a star in the architecture world, she was also writing novels. Yes, she’s penned more than a dozen books chronicling tales of intrigue, romance, and adventure. Like I told you, force of nature," wrote DuVernay.

"Her extraordinary trajectory eviscerates the old world that had maintained a dominant perspective in architecture—one that she calls “a singular, exclusive voice, whose reach and power ignores huge swathes of humanity ... as though we have been listening and speaking in one tongue only.” Now, we hear hers. Lesley creates new landscapes to re-imagine access and impact and vision and vibrant futures. Her presence in the world of architecture is the very foundation upon which fresh perspectives and passions will flourish. She is indeed a force of nature. A force for change. A force for good," DuVernay continued.

Marina Tabassum's Bait ur Rouf Mosque Faidabad, Uttara, Dhaka. Image © Sandro Di Carlo Darsa

"Tabassum’s altruism even extends to buildings themselves"

Bangladeshi architect and the 2021 Soane Medal-winner Marina Tabassum was praised for her altruistic attitude towards her work. 

In the citation written by Sarah Whiting, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she emphasized that Marina Tabassum was outside the usual patterns.

In her citation, Whiting underlined that Tabassum has developed a practice and way of being that prioritizes the dangers that local culture and values face the whole world.

Marina Tabassum's Khudi Bari. Modular mobile house for the Climate Victims of Bangladesh, Hands-on-built project 2020. Image © Asif Salman

"Altruism isn’t typically a term attributed to award-winning architects—a profession where signature has become a common adjective—but Marina Tabassum isn’t typical. She has developed a practice and a way of being that prioritizes local cultures and values, as well as the perils faced by our shared planet," wrote Whiting.

She also highlighted Tabassum's Aga Khan award-winning project, Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and her cost-effective and moveable homes in Bangladesh.

In 20216, Tabassum was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture with Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"Tabassum’s altruism even extends to buildings themselves," wrote Whiting. 

"She cares for her creations as creatures partaking in the resources of our earth: describing her Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which won the prestigious Aga Khan Award, she said a building “has to be able to breathe without artificial aids.” 

"Elsewhere in the country, which faces increased flood risks due to climate change, she has developed houses that are cost-effective and easy to move—clearly, buildings shouldn’t just breathe; they should avoid getting their feet wet. While she practices very locally, she teaches, lectures, and is recognized internationally, modeling architecture not as an individual signature but as a collective Esperanto," Whiting added.

Previously, South African architect Sumayya Vally, was been named as the world's most influential architect shaping the future in 2021 TIME100 Next List. Moreover, TIME100 List includes US architect Jeanne Gang in 2019, DS+R co-founder Elizabeth Diller in 2018, Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye in 2017.

Top image from right to left: Lesley Lock (photography © Murdo Macleod) and Marina Tabassum (photography © Sounak Das). 

> via TIME 

Lesley Lokko Marina Tabassum Time Magazine