Lesley Lokko has become the first African woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, for her work to “democratise” the industry. The honour is given by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) and approved by the monarch each year. Lokko was also made an OBE in the recent New Year Honours list by King Charles, who is known to have a keen interest in architecture.
Lokko is a 60-year-old known for her work as an architecture teacher and academic in universities and other institutions worldwide, rather than for designing grand building projects herself. Over the past two decades, she has championed bringing people of colour and other under-represented backgrounds into architecture.
African Female Winner – A Renaissance Figure
Lesley Lokko on receiving the prestigious honour said, “It was something that I never, ever imagined would ever come my way. The first person I wanted to tell was my father who is no longer here. For me, it was also an incredible moment of validation.”
Lokko was speaking after receiving her OBE from the Princess Royal at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The King issued a letter confirming Lokko’s nomination for the Royal Gold Medal and inviting her to Buckingham Palace.
Last year, Lokko became the first woman of African descent to curate the Venice Biennale’s architecture event, where she focused on the themes of decarbonisation and decolonisation. In 2021, she founded the educational African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana, to further explore the complex relationship between architecture, identity and race.
Lokko recalled her past memories and said, “When I started architecture, which is probably about 30 years ago now, there were only two people of colour in my class of almost 100. I think we were six women.” “My first impression was, oh, there’s not many people who are like me here, and I was not sure whether I had the right to be there. So I always understood diversity, not just about numbers and about policy, but also about the narratives and the stories and the experiences and the perspectives that people from diverse backgrounds could bring to architecture.”
The medal will be formally presented to the African female winner Lokko in London in May 2024. The Royal Gold Medal was first awarded in 1848 and is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture.
