Lesley Lokko is the 2024 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has selected Lesley Lokko as the 2024 recipient of the prestigious RIBA Royal Gold Medal. 

The founder of the African Futures Institute (AFI) and curator of last year’s 18th Venice Architecture Biennale received the award for her work surrounding justice causes and other attempts to “democratize” the profession. Fittingly, she joins last year’s winner Yasmeen Lari as the first-ever back-to-back solo female Royal Gold Medalists in RIBA history.

The Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, and author has been influential in the academic sphere through her tenure as dean of the CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture and founding director of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. Her official Gold Medal citation mentions her 2020 Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education and other contributions as being part of a boundary-pushing clarion call to create change in the broad-reaching global "tapestry of architecture." Lokko is also the first woman of African descent to win the Gold Medal since its founding in 1848.

Upon receiving the award, Lokko said: “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. 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."

RIBA’s President, Muyiwa Oki, joined the 2023 Honours Committee in saying: “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. 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.”

A special ceremony honoring Lokko’s achievement will be held on May 2nd at RIBA’s headquarters in London.