Nexus Podcast | March 20, 2022

Lesley Lokko

Season 2, Episode 9: Lesley Lokko delves into the relationship between fiction writing and Architecture and breaks down the role of the school in preparing future architects.

Lesley Lokko

Lesley Lokko. Photo by Murdo Macleod.

Overview

Lesley Lokko questions the efficacy of a problem-based architectural education and suggests a new pedagogy that liberates the students’ relationship to design. Looking to fiction, metaphor, analogy, Africa, and industries in the larger design sphere, we discuss the possibilities to expand the bounds of the field of Architecture.

About Lesley Lokko

Lesley Lokko graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, with a BSc(Arch) in 1992, and an MArch in 1995, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of London in 2007. In 2004, she published her first novel, Sundowners, a Guardian Top 40 Bestseller, following up with eleven more novels. Lokko has taught architecture all over the globe. In partnership with the University of Johannesburg, she established the Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) in 2014/2015 and became the director of School. She is currently founder and director of the African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana. In 2021, she was appointed as the curator of the 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture, set to open in 2023.

How to Listen

You can listen to all available episodes and find program notes here on our website, or subscribe to the series via one of these providers: iTunes, GoogleSpotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher.

About the Show

Developed by the African American Design Nexus at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, The Nexus is a podcast that explores the intersection of design, identity, and practice through conversations with Black designers, writers, and educators. The Nexus is produced in conjunction with a commitment by the Frances Loeb Library to acquire and create an open-access bibliography of various media suggested by the GSD community on the intersection between race and design.

Show Credits

The Nexus Season 2 is hosted by Tara Oluwafemi and Darien Carr, students in the Master of Architecture program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The show is recorded and edited by Maggie Janik, and the theme music is produced by DJ Eway.

Contact

For all inquiries, please email [email protected].