Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Professor Lesley Lokko has been awarded the 2024 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Known as one of the world’s highest honours in architecture – presented on behalf of His Majesty the King, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal recognises Lokko’s commitment "to championing diverse approaches to architectural practice and education."

Lokko becomes the first African woman to receive this honour. Previous women to have won this award includes Zaha Hadid, Yasmeen Lari, Ray Eames, Patricia Hopkins, Sheila O'Donnell, Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell.

As an educator, author, and curator, "for over two decades, Lokko has devoted her career to amplifying under-represented voices and examining the complex relationship between architecture, identity and race, profoundly impacting architectural education, dialogue and discourse," said the Royal Institute of British Architects.

"Democratise architecture"

Lokko's work to "democratise architecture" has been hailed by the RIBA Honours Committee 2024 as a "clarion call for equitable representation in policies, planning, and design that shape our spaces."

In 2021, she founded the African Futures Institute (AFI) in Accra, Ghana, aiming to be a new model of education, research and public dialogue that unites the arts, humanities and sciences and “reimagines Africa as the crucible of the future”. 

The African Futures Institute operates as a pan-African think tank, embracing "cutting-edge teaching and world-class research to confront contemporary challenges around race, environmental justice and new forms of urbanism."  

Prior to establishing the AFI, Lokko taught around the world and reframed architecture courses to democratise, decolonise and progress architectural education. 

Notable 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. 

"Architecture gave me language, in all its forms"

"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," said Lesley Lokko. 

"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 added.

"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," she added.

In 2023, Lokko was awarded an OBE for services to architecture and education and was appointed Curator of the 18th International Architecture Biennale in Venice. 

Titled The Laboratory of the Future, the exhibition took Africa at its centre and included its first ever educational component. Moreover, Lokko launched a call for the Biennale College Architettura which invited 50 students from across the globe come together for a four-week teaching programme, and focused on the twin themes of the exhibition – decarbonisation and decolonisation. 

Accra, Festus Jackson-Davis. Image courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia

"A fierce champion of equity and inclusion in all aspects of life"

"A fierce champion of equity and inclusion in all aspects of life, 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," said RIBA President, Muyiwa Oki. 

"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," Oki added.

Unsettling Queenstown at the The Australian Pavilion in the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Image © Tom Roe

The Royal Gold Medal 2024 will be formally presented to Lesley Lokko in London on 2 May 2024. The 2024 Royal Gold Medal selection committee was chaired by RIBA President Muyiwa Oki and comprised of Royal Gold Medal 2023 recipient Yasmeen Lari, architect and senior partner at RSHP Ivan Harbour, Head of School and Chief Executive at the London School of Architecture Neal Shasore, and Cindy Walters, architect and partner at Walters & Cohen.  

Lokko was awarded the 2020 RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education, and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture 2021 at the 2021 W Awards by The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal. 

Top image in the article: Lesley Lokko. Image © Murdo Macleod.

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Award Lesley Lokko RIBA Royal Gold Medal