The Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) bestows the award, which is annually authorized by the monarch.
King Charles, who is well-known for having a strong interest in architecture, also awarded Scottish-Ghanaian Lokko an OBE in the most recent New Year’s Honours list.
Lokko’s work on Africa and the so-called Global South was praised by Riba.
Over the past 20 years, the 60-year-old has advocated for the inclusion of people of color and other underrepresented backgrounds in the architectural field.
Upon learning of the Royal Gold Medal, Lokko described it as “a slightly out of body experience”.
“Second of confirmation”
“It was something that I never, ever imagined would ever come my way,” she stated. “My father, who is no longer with us, was the first person I wanted to inform. It was a wonderful moment of validation, but it is also kind of bittersweet.”
Following her OBE from the Princess Royal on Wednesday at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Lokko was speaking.
In a letter, the King nominated Lokko for the Royal Gold Medal and extended an invitation for her to visit Buckingham Palace.
Lokko, who was born in Dundee and first saw him at a polo match when she was a teenager growing up in Ghana, said she felt at ease interacting with royalty even though she had to handle challenging topics and intricate discussions about decolonization and race.
“I think one of the ways to affect change is to be inside the institutions that you are trying to change,” she stated. “I doubt that I would have recognized a person of color if I had been watching something similar to an OBE investiture twenty or thirty years ago. That is entirely different now.
“I believe that being represented is one way to undo that history or legacy of subjugation. Because you create these kinds of moments for yourself, they are extremely special. You work for your community and your family as well.
Being present is important to me. Being on stage is important.”
