Architecture: Lesley Lokko and Joe Osae-Addo

**I had no idea author Lesley Lokko is also an architect -did you? I guess there’s no end to her talents. I found the following via http://www.afrikamuseum.nl/

Lesley Naa Norle Lokko is an architect, academic and novelist. She grew up in Ghana, West Africa and was educated in Ghana and the UK. She completed her architectural training at the ULC Bartlett School of Architecture and holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of London. She has taught in the UK, the USA and South Africa and is currently a Visiting Professor of Architecture at Westminster University. She has lectured and published widely on the subject of race, cultural identity and their relationship to architecture and is the editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture (University of Minnesota Press, 2000). Being the owner of a design firm, Lokko Associates in Accra, Ghana, she completed several residential projects in Accra and Akosombo, Ghana. She is currently a member of the African Centre for Cities, which looks critically at the challenges and opportunities facing African cities in the near and longterm future. Her second career, as a novelist, has seen the publication of five novels, three of which have been UK bestsellers. She currently divides her time between Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Ghana and London, UK..**For more information about Lesley Lokko visit: http://www.lesleylokko.com/

I also found the following about fellow Ghanaian architect, Joe Osae-Addo, new to Ghana Rising’s radar -and I’m sooo pleased as he’s an incredibly talented individual -and we are happy to celebrate him.

Joe Osae – Addo was born in Ghana, West Africa, and was educated at the Architectural Association in London. He worked in Finland, the UK and the USA, setting up his practice in Los Angeles in 1991. His work has been influenced by ‘genus-loci’ and the role it pplayed in creating architecture. In his work, he searched for a way to create pieces which are site specific and at the same time meet the needs of people who will interact with it. He is a founding partner in the A + D Museum, Los Angeles, whose mission is to advance knowledge and to enable people to appreciate and understand architecture and design. He moved back to his native country Ghana in 2004 and is currently the CEO of Constructs LLC, an inno-native design firm based in Accra and Tamale in Ghana, West Africa.Joe Osae-Addo is a member of Jury Africa Middle East of the Holcim Awards for Sustainable Design and has been member of the World Economic Forum in 2009. He is, among many other projects, working on the Make It Right project in New Orleans, initiated by Brad Pitt after the Katrina disaster. He is also involved in a 1000 unit affordable housing project in Monrovia, Liberia. Since 2010 he has been chair of the Board of the ArchiAfrika foundation.