Current


Handprints in the Life Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Design. URL
Curated by Paola Antonelli and Maya Ellerkman
MoMA New York City, September 2, 2023- July 7, 2024

Tomorrow Today
exhibition curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado. URL

Museum of the Future, Dubai, UAE, March 2022-2024



Photo credit: nvstudio from Healing Meadow in “The Art of Mushrooms” at the Serralves Foundation, Porto.  


Selected Past 

2022


Photo credit: Mae-ling Lokko from “The Rise and Fall of Ghana’s Cash Crops” Dinner Exhibiiton menu with Selassie Atadika.

Healing Meadow in “Fungi” URL
Curated by Magnus af Petersens and Karl-Johan Cottman
Nobel Prize Museum, September 29, 2023 - January 30, 2024

Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism (audio piece) URL
Curated by Carson Chan, Matthew Wagstaffe, Dewi Tan and Eva Lavranou (The Ambasz Institute)
MoMA New York City, September 17, 2023 - January 20, 2024

Healing Meadow in “The Art of Mushrooms”.
Serralves Foundation, Porto, Lisbon,  June 2022 - June 2023.

“Everything’s on the Table”
(with Dean Hayley Eber, Dakota Pace and Cooper Union students),
Tallinn Architecture Biennial 2022, Estonia, September 7 - October 31, 2022

Mycotunnel in “It’s our F***ing Backyard. Designing Material Futures”.
Stedelijk Museum,  Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 26 - September 4, 2022.

“The Rise and Fall of Ghana’s Cash Crops” Dinner Exhibition in collaboration with Chef Selassie Atadika. Art Residency with El Anatsui
Accra, Ghana. July 7-9, 2022

Shard Song, Curator of solo exhibition by El Anatsui,
Efie Gallery, Dubai, UAE, March 7- May 31, 2022

Healing Meadow in Design Fest Gent.
Gent, Belgium, April 22 - May 1, 2022.

2021


Photo credit: Ibrahim Mahama. Groundmurmurs, Sonsbeek Biennial 20-24. Mae-ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil

Grounds for Return, Solo Exhibition
Hasselt, Belgium, September 25, 2021 - January 9th 2022

26 Degrees North and South, Mae-ling Lokko, Vienna Biennial
Austria, Vienna, May-October 2021

Groundmurmurs, Mae-ling Lokko and Gustavo Crembil, Sonsbeek Biennial 20-24,
Arnhem Netherlands, July-August 2021

2020

The State of the Art of Architecture”
Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy, February 2020

Hack the Root in “The Art, Design and Future of Fungi”
Somerset House, London, UK, January-April 2020



2019

Agrocologies in “Housing the Human”
Radialsystem, Berlin, Germany, October 2019

School of Schools “Carbocycene”
Atelier Luma, Luma Foundation, Arles, France, May 2019


Agrocologies Exhibition in the Copenhagen Architecture Festival Royal Academy of Danish Arts (KADK), Copenhagen, Denmark, April 2019

Yale CEA Ecological Pavilion Nairobi, United Nations Environment Programme 
Nairobi, Kenya, March 2019



2018


Photo credit: Kamil Onemci. Palaver + palaver, Istanbul Design Biennial 2018 with Gustavo Crembil


Palaver + palaver at the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial 2018,
Studio X Istanbul, September-November 2018

AgroDerivatives: Permutations on Generative Citizenship in Biodesign,
Rhode Island School of Design, August-September 2018

Hack the Root at the Liverpool Biennial 2018
Royal Institute of British Architects, July-October 2018

Commissioned Hack the Root Public Installation and Agromaterialisms Exhibition at RIBA-North
Funded by Arts Council England, RIBA-North, Liverpool Biennial and CAVA

2017

Accra: Portraits of A City Exhibition, ANO Ghana Institute of Contemporary Arts,  Feb 2017
Installation of 21st Century Biocomposite Materials for Inaugural Exhibition

2016
Climate Change Exhibition, Mmofra Foundation (Accra, Ghana), October 2016
Installation of Exterior Agricultural By-Product Building Structure

Chale Wote Street Art Festival, Jamestown (Accra, Ghana), August 2016
Upcycling Pavilion with CASE-RPI and Serge Attukwei Clottey



Photo credit: Evert Palmets from “Everything’s on the Table” (with Dean Hayley Eber, Dakota Pace and Cooper Union students)












Upcoming


United Nations Environment Program “Buildings and Climate Global Forum”. Keynote Speaker: Accelerating the use of Wood & Biobased Materials to Decarbonise Buildings. (March 6-8, 2024). URL
Palais de Congres, Paris 

UNC Charlotte David Ravin School of Architecture Lecture Series. (April 3, 2024). URL
Charlotte, North Carolina

Architecture's Ecological Restructuring Part II" Workshop Symposium, Tulane School of Architecture (April 6, 2024)
New Orleans, Louisiana

Embodied Restoration Lab Symposium (April 17-19, 2024). URL
Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Black Portraitures: Shifting Paradigms Panel, La Biennale di Veniza “Foreigners Everywhere” (April 20-21, 2024). URL
Venice, Italy

Futureflow Speaker. Living Future 2024: Change Starts Here (May 5-7, 2024) URL
Atlanta, Georgia

Past 

Yale IPCH Directors Forum, (February 5-9, 2024)
Johannesburg, South Africa

Wonderfruit, (Dec 14-18, 2023)
Pattaya, Thailand

COP28 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference
(Yale Planterary Solutions, Extreme Hangout and Klosters Forum) (Dec 1-8, 2023)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Opening Keynote ACSA/AIA Intersections Research Conference (October 19, 2023) URL
UMass Amherst, Amherst

UNEP Building Materials and Climate Global Report (September 19, 2023) URL
Yale Club, NYC

Material Variance Symposium (September 19, 2023) URL
Columbia University, NYC

World Resources Forum  (September 4-6, 2023) 
Geneva, Switzerland

Burn Out Symposium (July 1-4, 2023) URL
E-WERK Luckenwalde, Germany

Klosters Forum (June 27-29, 2023) URL
Klosters, Switzerland

2023 Design For Freedom Summit. URL (March 30, 2023, 10 am - 6pm) URL
Grace Farms, New Canaan CT

Yale For Humanity. Cities and Climate Solutions: Catalyzing Change for a Sustainable Future (March 4, 2023, 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm) URL
Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City




From Field to Form. (February 15, 2023, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.) URL
The Architectural League, New York City

UCONN PSLA Seminar Series Spring 2023 (January 27, 2023 12:00-1:00 PM EST)

RICS World Built Environment Forum (January 18, 2023, 8:00-8:45 AM CET) URL
Presentation of the 2022 Buildings Global Status Report 

COP27 United Nations Environment Program Buildings Pavilion (November 11, 2022, 10:30 – 12:00 EST) URL
“Building our future – The potential of the buildings and building materials for a climate neutral world”

COP27 United Nations Environment Program Global ABC Report Launch (November 9, 2022)
2022 Global ABC Report Launch Speaker

PennState Stuckeman School Fall 2022 Lecture Series (November 9, 2022) URL
Penn State University, Pennsylvania

Reykjakik Global Forum (November 8, 2022) URL
The Power of Design

Material Worlds: Photosynthetics (October 20, 2022)  URL
MoMA and Ambasz Institute Events

Climate/Justice Fall 2022 Lecture Series (October 13, 2022) URL
California College of Arts (CCA), San Francisco

“New Spaces” RISD Presidential Inauguration (October 8, 2022) URL
Rhode Island School of Design

Design Futures Singapore (September 20, 2022) URL
Victoria Theatre, Singapore

Living Cities Forum (July 21, 2022) URL
Federation Square, Melbourne, Austrialia

Whole Life Carbon Design: Material Foundations (June 2, 2022)
Launch of IFC EDGE Green Building Competition, Accra Ghana

Can Biomaterials become the building blocks for the 21st Century? (May 5, 2022) URL
United Nations Environment Program and Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture

Central Saint Martin’s MA Spatial Practices Program (May 2nd, 2022 )
Virtual Guest Lecture. London, UK

Bartlett International Lecture Series (April 27, 2022) URL
Bartlett School of Architecture, London.

“Return” in 5th Floor Talks. (April 7, 2022) 
Virtual Guest Lecture. Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands

Domestic Making by the Enslaved Symposium (Feb 11, 2022) URL
Virtual. 

“Nature of Enclosure” Panel Discussion and Book Launch (February 8, 2022). URL
Cooper Union, New York

2021


Plant Potential Symposium (November 5, 2021) URL
University of Texas, Austin. 

NatureLab. Sanctuary for Independent Media (October 15, 2021) URL
NatureLab, Troy, New York.

Grounds for Return Exhibition Talk with Sep Verboom (October 12, 2021) URL
Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, Hasselt, Belgium 

Royal Institute of Architects Scotland Convention (September 28, 2021) URL
Built Environment Roundtable Panelist

4th Ghana Green Building Summit, (September 23, 2021) URL
Panelist 

Planet Matters, MAK, Vienna, (September 4, 2021) URL
Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna, Austria 

Sliver Lecture Series, (June 10, 2021) URL
Institute of Applied Arts, Vienna

Year of Uncertainty (YoU) Series, May 7, 2021
Queen’s Museum

80+40 Inaugural Lecture, April 16, 2021
University of Kansas School of Architecture. URL

Architectural Research Centers Consortium 2021, April 10, 2021 URL
Closing Panel Speaker

2020



On Value Circulation – Intersections of Food, Agriculture and Building Material Life Cycles-
Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain 
Roundtable Panelist, December 1, 2020. URL

Queens Museum, New York.
New Models of Material Life Cycle Design Research. Invited Lecture. October 5, 2020.

United Nations Climate Change: Cool Buildings for All.
Technical Expert Panel Presenter on Mitigation (TEM-M). September 30, 2020. URL

Coconut Coup D’etat: On Activating Generative Justice through Design. April 14, 2020.
Spitzer School of Architecture SCIAME Spring Lecture Series. City University of New York.

The State of Art of Architecture, (Milan, Italy) February 2020.
Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy. URL


2019




A-Z Nights 12: Talk by Mae-ling Lokko (Hasselt, Belgium), November 2019. URL

Housing the Human. Methodological Frictions Panels (Berlin, Germany), October 2019. URL

Are Cities for Everyone?” Panel (Stockholm, Sweden),  May 2019
ArkDes, Swedish National Center for Architecture and Design. URL

Upcycling: Housing the Human Panel (Copenhagen, Denmark), April 2019
Royal Academy of Danish Arts


2018


4th Istanbul Design Biennial (Istanbul, Turkey) November 2018
Palaver + palaver Installation, Housing the Human Panel

Forecast Festival (Berlin, Germany) October 2018
Housing the Human Panel

Squash Nutrition (Liverpool, UK), September 2018
Guest Speaker

Demanio Marittimo. KM-278 (Ancona, Italy), July 2018
Housing the Human Competition Public Presentation

“In Conversation with Mae-ling Lokko”
Royal Institute of Architects-North (Liverpool, UK), July 2018. URL

Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (New Lab, Brooklyn, NY)-
Transforming the DNA of the Built Environment (NYC), May 2018

Ruderal Ecologies Symposium (Troy, NY), April 2018. URL


2017


Design and Empire Symposium (Liverpool, UK), November 2017. URL

MESH Creative Confab (Accra, Ghana), July 2017. 


2016


New York Academy of Sciences, Summit on Science Enablement for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (New York City, NY), December 2016
Summit Industry Participant

Bohlen and Associates (Seattle, WA), July 2016
AMBIS Technologies and Biomaterials Research Presentation

New York Academy of Sciences Proof of Concept Center Annual Meeting (New York City, NY), January 2016

AMBIS Technologies Inc. Presentation
High Tech Rochester Demo Day (Rochester, NY), June 2016
AMBIS Technologies Inc. Showcase Presentation


2015  

Upstate New York Clean Energy Demo Day (Rochester, NY), October 2015
AMBIS Business Technology Innovation Start-Up Presentation and Showcase

New York Clean Tech Open (New York City, NY), October 2015
AMBIS Business Technology Innovation Start-Up Presentation and Showcase

School of Architecture, University of North Carolina-Charlotte Lecture Series (Charlotte, NC), October 2014
Co-presenter with Chris Sharples (Research + Practice-CASE + SHoP Architects)

XXV International Union of Architect’s World Congress Conference (Durban, South Africa), August 2014
“Design for Society panelist and paper presenter

West Africa Built Environment Research Conference (Accra, Ghana), 2011 Session Co-chair. URL

Urban Heritage Strategies (Rotterdam, Netherlands), June 2011
National Delegate for Ghana


Mark
Selected Writings

Lokko, M. L., Wireko Manu, F., Mboup, N., Aly Etman, M. A., Raugei, M., Niang, I., & Sarfo-Mensah, R. 2024. “Comparing the Whole Life Cycle Carbon Impact of Conventional and Biogenic Building Materials Across Major Residential Typologies in Ghana and Senegal.” Sustainable Cities and Society 106: 105332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105332. URL.

United Nations Environment Programme (2023). Building Materials and the Climate: Constructing a New Future. Nairobi. URL.

United Nations Environment Programme (2022). 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction: Towards a Zero‑emission, Efficient and Resilient Buildings and Construction Sector. Nairobi. URL.

Keena, Naomi, Marco Raugei, Mae-ling Lokko, Mohamed Aly Etman, Vicki Achnani, Barbara K. Reck, and Anna Dyson. 2022. "A Life-Cycle Approach to Investigate the Potential of Novel Biobased Construction Materials toward a Circular Built Environment" Energies 15, no. 19: 7239. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197239. URL

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2022. Hot Air Rising. Commissioned by the Tallinn 2022 Architeture Biennial x eFlux. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2022. Colonization of Air. In Nature of Enclosure, edited by Jeffrey Nesbitt.
Actar Publishers. URL

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2021. Coconut Diaries. Commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum x eFlux. URL.

Ridwana, Iffat and Mae-ling Lokko. April 9, 2021. Investigating scales of performance: Ecomanufacturing of mycelium biocomposites in an informal settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  Architecture Research Centers Consortium 2021 Conference: Performative Environments. (Winner Best Paper Award). 

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2021. "Worldforming by Ghanaian Women in Architecture." In Archives of Women Artists,
Research and Exhibitions magazine. URL.

Lokko, Maeling. 2021. “Ground Zero”. In Tomorrow AnewURL.

Lokko, Mae-ling and Selassie Atadika. 2021. Proka Seed Library. MOLD Magazine Issue 5:
Seeds. Winter 2020/21. URL

Lokko, Mae-ling and Gustavo Crembil. 2020. The Architectural Design Studio as a Site for Investigating Comparative Models of Transatlantic, Academic-Industrial Partnership. Folio Journal of African Architecture: 2. URL

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2019. Exhibition catalogue for Ghana National Pavilion at 58th Venice International Art Biennial. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2019. “El Anatsui: Kente Rhapsody in 18 Pieces” in Frieze Magazine Issue 200. URL

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2018. “Life in Architecture” in Frieze Magazine Issue 196. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling and Alexandra Rempel. 2018. “Intrinsic Evaporative Cooling and Weather-Responsive Natural Ventilation for Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Tropical Buildings.” International Building Physics Conference. Syracuse: NY. IBPC 2018. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling and Ron Eglash. 2017. “Transforming the Poor Man’s Building Block: Value Creation, Translation and Circulation for Upcycled Indigenous Building Materials.” Folio Journal of African Architecture: 1. URL

Lokko, Mae-ling and Akwasi McLaren. 2017. “Finding a Place in the Sun.” In Book Series of the University
of Applied Arts Vienna, edited by Rector Gerald Bast, 304-6. Basel: Birkhauser.

Lokko, Mae-ling, Michael Rowell, Anna Dyson, and Alexandra Rempel. 2016. “Development of Affordable Building Materials Using Agricultural Waste By-Products and Emerging Pith, Soy and Mycelium Biobinders.” In 32nd International Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture Proceedings, edited by Pablo La Roche and Marc Schiler, 881-887. Los Angeles: PLEA 2016. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling, Dyson, Anna, and Vollen, Jason. 2014. “Building Integrated Coconut Envelope Systems: Rethinking the Role of Low-tech materials for High Performance in the Hot-humid Region” Proceedings of the XXV International Union of Architects World Congress, Durban, South Africa, August 2014. Ed. Asmira Osman, Gerhard Bruyns and Clinton Aigbavboa. Durban: UIA 2014 Durban, pp. 1368-83. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling. “The Brazil House: A Return to The Future.” Pambazuka News, July 24, 2013. Accessed
December 15, 2013. https://www.pambazuka.org/global-south/brazil-house-return-future.

Lokko, Mae-ling and Carine Oberweis. “East African Architecture: Heritage & Tourism: Learning from Ghana.” ANZA Magazine: Issue 2, April 2012, 16-17.

Lokko, Mae-ling. “The History and Architecture of the National Museum (of Ghana).” ArchiAfrika Newsletter- Role of the Museum in African Today. December 2011.

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2011. “Old Accra Revisited.” In Heritage as an Asset for Inner City Development: An Urban Manager’s Guidebook, edited by Jean-Paul Corten, Ellen Geurts, and Paul Meurs.  Rotterdam: Nai Publishers. URL.

Lokko, Mae-ling. 2010. Brazil House: A Return to the Future. Book Commissioned by the Embassy of Brazil in Ghana, Accra: Surf Publications.



                Active Research Projects 
                 

         

        POLICY: CARBON IN  BUILT ENVIRONMENT

                Building Materials and Climate: Constructing a New Future Report (Download here)
                Lead Principal Investigator: Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture,
                Co-Principal Investigators: Willow Technologies Ltd., Ghana, McGill University
                Funding: United Nations Environment Program
               
                Specific Contributions: 
                - Chapter 4: Shift to Biobased Materials (Timber, Bamboo, Biomass)
                - Chapter 5: Improve:  Masonry and Earth-based Materials
                - Case Studies: 
                       + Taking pressure off West Africa’s tropical forests through the use of non-timber biomass resources
                       + Greening the masonry value chain in West Africa



 
                
                UNEP Global Report
                Building Materials and Climate Report (URL)
                Yale CEA, Global ABC, UNEP
               


                2022 Global Status Report- Buildings and  
                Constructions (URL)
                Global ABC
                contributing author, Materials Chapter
                         
           



        INTEGRATED MATERIAL LIFE CYCLE DESIGN

               Soil Sisters  
               
                                 
                Current Funding: SOM Foundation, Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture, Yale School of Architecture
                Project Website: www.yalesoilsisters.com/







        GLOBAL ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION  


               Domestic Worldmaking by the Enslaved    
                               
            
                Past Funding: Global Architectural History and Teaching Collaborative
                Project Website: https://domesticworldmaking.com/



          


       




 
           
               
Selected Press / Media 


2023



New York Times
A Panorama of Design



Art Papers
On Coconuts and Earthships





ArchDaily 2023 Best New Practices
Willow Technologies Transforms Agricultural By-Products Into Building Materials in Ghana




Tufts Now “Earth Advocates”
Agricultural Waste and Transforming the Future of Building Materials




ArchDaily
Best New Practices of 2023




Yale Architecture
Yale School of Architecture appoints new tenure-track faculty







2022



Dezeen Awards Shortlist 
“Grounds For Return” Shortlisted for Dezeen 2022 Awards



ArtAfrica
Black Rock Senegal announces official selection of artists for 2022-2023




ArchDaily
Returning the Building to the Soil: An Interview with Mae-ling Lokko

Scottish 2022 Design Awards
Winner ARCHITECTURE: Low Cost Project Schemes Under 200k

SOM Foundation 
SOM Foundation 2022 Research Prize Winners





2021


ICON Magazine Issue 204
The Grow Issue 


WOMEN OF TOMORROW
Another Tomorrow

British Council News
FUTURE BY DESIGN WINNER 

Queens Museum
Year of Uncertainty (You)




2020


Blueprint Issue 369
The Materials Issue (text by Debika Ray)

Elle Decoration
https://www.elledecoration.co.uk/design/a30749648/luxury-sustainable-design-waste-materials-pioneers/

This is Mold
https://thisismold.com/space/interiors/scientist-mae-ling-lokko-on-mycelium-as-a-building-material





2019

Hublot Design Prize 2019 Finalists

WNYT Television
RPI team says fungi could be the future of building

Wallpaper
Hublot Design Prize 2019

The Conversation
How fungi can help create a green construction industry

DOMUS Italy
Changing Ideals: 1919-2019-2119

Berlin ArtLink
Glimpsing the Future at Copenhagen’s ‘Housing the Human’ Symposium Abitare Italy
Architects at the Copenhagen Festival

En Revenant de L’Expo
https://www.enrevenantdelexpo.com/2019/05/20/a-school-of-schools-luma-arles/

Visible Project
https://www.visibleproject.org/blog/project/protokitchens/


2018
DAMN Magazine 
https://www.damnmagazine.net/editions/damn-70/

World Architecture Org
12 Must See Installation at the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial

The Essential Journal United Kingdom
Beautiful World Where Are You? 

DOMUS Istanbul
4th Istanbul Design Biennial. A blend of design, education and daily life

BBC News
Liverpool Biennial: Inuit, Aboriginal and 'indigenous' art on show

Royal Institute of British Architects Journal
Grow your own building by Pamela Buxton

Frieze Magazine

Frieze Magazine 
Life in Architecture - Mae-ling Jovenes Lokko

Art In Liverpool 2018
Building new futures: Liverpool Biennial artist Mae-ling Lokko By Patrick Kirk-Smith

The Biennial
https://www.biennial.com/blog/28/06/2018/mae-ling-lokko-the-art-of-upcycling


2017
The Guardian
Accra, Ghana ANO Art-gallery-opening-60-anniversary

ArchDaily
Best Design Build Projects Worldwide 2017

Architizer
Playtime In Africa, Mmofra-Foundation Ghana


2016
Phys Organisation
CASE coconut building panels on display in Ghana

Callison RTKL
CallisonRTKL releases video on resilient architecture, The Case for Hope: Design and climate change


2015
Rotch Foundation
http://rotch.org/studio/2015/index.html



Mark