African Futures Institute completes warehouse home in Accra
The African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana, has a permanent home at last.
The independent school of architecture has completed its new headquarters in the city, converting a former tile warehouse for its own use, as reported by Queen's University Belfast. The school was founded by architect Lesley Lokko, according to Dezeen. That is the news in one line.
The address is specific. The headquarters sits at Plot 7, Nyaniba Estates, Osu, Accra, the institute says on its website. Osu is a busy neighbourhood in the Ghanaian capital, and Nyaniba Estates is its residential pocket. The school lists the site as its base.
The institute describes itself as the brainchild of Professor Lesley Lokko OBE. It began in 2021 in Accra, according to the African Futures Institute. It operates as an independent school, meaning it stands alone rather than as a department of a larger university.
Lokko is a Scottish-Ghanaian architect, as described by Dezeen. She won the 2024 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, the annual award given by the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, that outlet reported in 2024. She also set up the Nomadic African Studio to run yearly architecture workshops in different places across Africa.
The headquarters project was a team effort. Patrick Gentilezza of Buro Ghana was on the development team, alongside Patti Anahory, Laurence Lord and Fred Swart, according to ArchDaily. Buro Ghana is an Accra-based organisation. The four names are credited together on the build.
What makes this stand out is simple. A warehouse that once stored tiles now holds classrooms and studios. For anyone who has never followed architecture schools, this means the institute no longer needs borrowed space. It has its own front door.
