Lesley Lokko's African Futures Institute settles into Accra warehouse

A former tile warehouse in Accra, Ghana, has become the first permanent home of the African Futures Institute, the independent architecture school founded by Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko.

The institute has operated through partnerships and temporary spaces since its establishment in 2021. The renovated building in the neighbourhood of Osu now changes that.

"The refurbishment gives an existing commercial building in Osu a new civic life as a permanent centre for education, culture and public programming," the African Futures Institute told Dezeen.

Who designed the renovation?

Lokko designed the project with designer Fred Swart and architects Patrick Gentilezza, Patti Anahory and Laurence Lord. The building contains research and education spaces for the school and cultural spaces for the public.

"Through lectures, exhibitions, workshops, screenings and gatherings, it creates a place where African Futures Institute's work can connect directly with the everyday life and rhythms of Accra," the institute said.

"We hope people experience it as a framework for cultural activity rather than a conventional institutional building. Above all, it is intended to encourage learning, encounter and the exchange of ideas."

How was the warehouse converted?

Local oral history dates the building's construction to the late 1950s or early 1960s. The design team preserved and restored the warehouse envelope. Skylights were added to the roof. New wall openings rationalise the facades.

The interior revolves around the Urban Room, a multi-purpose flexible space that can operate as a lecture hall, studio, cinema, workshop and exhibition hall.

The material palette complements the industrial shell:

• Rammed earth flooring and a full-length wall finished with linseed oil
• Locally sourced clay bricks
• Quarry dust
• Hardwood
• Metalwork
• Precast concrete

What happens next in the building?

The Nomadic African Studio, the educational program Lokko and the institute launched last year, will continue its operations in the new headquarters.

Lokko became the first African woman to win the RIBA Gold Medal in 2024. In the same year, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people. The headquarters gives her institute, for the first time, a fixed venue to anchor its lectures, exhibitions and public programming in the everyday life of Accra.

The photography is by Alix McIntosh.