African Futures Institute Opens Permanent Headquarters in Renovated Accra Warehouse

Key facts

• A former tile warehouse in Accra, Ghana, has been transformed into the permanent headquarters of the African Futures Institute.
• The African Futures Institute is an independent architecture school founded by Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko.
• The renovation was designed by Lesley Lokko with designer Fred Swart and architects Patrick Gentilezza, Patti Anahory and Laurence Lord.
• The building is located in the Osu neighbourhood of Accra and is the institute's first permanent home since its establishment in 2021.
• The building envelope, believed to date from the late 1950s or early 1960s based on local oral history, was preserved and restored.
• Interior spaces are organised around the Urban Room, a flexible space for lectures, studios, cinema, workshops and exhibitions.
• Rammed earth was used for flooring and a full-length wall finished with linseed oil, alongside locally sourced clay bricks, quarry dust, hardwood, metalwork and precast concrete.
• The Nomadic African Studio educational programme, launched in 2025, will continue operations in the new headquarters.
• Lesley Lokko became the first African woman to win the RIBA Gold Medal in 2024 and was named on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people that year.
• Photography of the project is by Alix McIntosh.