Architect Lesley Lokko: ‘There is a Sense in Africa That it is Our Time’

As the curator of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, Ghanaian-Scottish architect, Lesley Lokko, is making a point of doing things differently by putting Africa at the forefront. Entitled ‘Laboratory of the Future,’ the exhibitions will focus on the promise of innovation. With an unprecedented number of participants coming from Africa, she is sending a signal that the continent will be a primary source of what’s new and next in the world of architecture. Her Biennale will accordingly range widely. Alongside established names such as the Burkinabe-German architect Francis Kéré and the Ghanaian-British David Adjaye, she has invited 22 “emerging” practices under the heading “guests from the future”. The youngest participant will be 24. There will be a special four-week Biennale “college” where students from all over the world have been invited to study.

THE GUARDIAN