As part of Black History Month and ahead of the announcement of this year’s RIBAJ Rising Stars, we talk to two recipients of the 2022 awards, Bongani Muchemwa and Betty Owoo, about their experiences during the past two years
For UK Black History Month, we’re exploring the theme of Reclaiming Narratives, the significant shift towards recognising and correcting the narratives of Black history and culture. Ahead of this month’s announcement of the 2024 RIBAJ Rising Stars cohort, we caught up with two previous Rising Stars, Bongani Muchemwa and Betty Owoo, to see how their story has changed since winning the award and who has inspired them to help make the profession a more inclusive place.
Bongani Muchemwa is an architect and educator who teaches at the University of Westminster and The Bartlett. In 2022, he was named a RIBAJ Rising Stars alongside fellow McCloy + Muchemwa director, Steve McCloy.
How has your work changed since becoming a Rising Star?
There are all kinds of things that we’ve been working on that are taking shape and continuing. In 2022, we’d been working on a competition with larger practices: the Barbican entry with Diller Scofido + Renfro. We were shortlisted though someone else won, but it was a good experience learning from them.
It’s not necessarily what’s changed but a continuation of the same thing. We recently won a competition with dRMM that we’ve sent out for planning for a housing scheme in and around Peckham. We’re also on the panel for the Mayor of London’s Architecture + Urbanism Framework with Studio Egret West and a few other architects on a consortium.
We’ve also been doing other smaller bits that we like to do, whether it’s playgrounds or competitions for tiny things. We’re also trying to get into the things that young activists do that we never really tried ourselves, like house extensions. It’s becoming a sort of soup of different scales and different collaborations. We’ve also hired our first employee, which is quite fun yet quite challenging.
As for teaching, before it was just at Westminster but now, I’ve added an extra day at the Bartlett teaching second and third year, which is quite interesting because it feels like I’m learning architecture at that same point.
How can we make the built environment a more inclusive place?
The issue is with access and how to make education itself affordable so it can be accessible for everyone, which is a running theme. The changes to Part 1 and Part 2 that will come around soon from the ARB might alleviate some of those issues and perceived barriers to entry.
A much stronger basis for apprenticeships might be another way to improve access. That’s the thing I’m seeing projecting into the future and what the education sector is much more interested in doing. I see that as a really welcome change.
I see others in practice also doing interesting things. I’m a fan of the POoR Collective, Jayden Ali, Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Tara Gbolade alongside quite a few other architects who are in that arena. There’s been quite a visible move to get more people from diverse backgrounds involved in architecture, especially in London.
Are there any Black British built-environment professionals who have inspired you and deserve a shout-out?
I’ve been really inspired by my first-year tutor, Rashid Ali. He was teaching while starting his own studio and at the moment I think he’s practising in Somaliland while also working in London. He’s a brilliant architect and has been quite an inspiring person.
He used to say things in the first year about how long a journey this will be. It’s quite good to have had a teacher that gives a perspective about how long it’s going to take to become an architect and actually find yourself practising, whether it’s in an office or your own studio. I like the way that he was giving us a hint of that from early on.
What is one piece of advice that you would give your younger self before entering the profession?
I would say: get as much first-hand experience as possible of doing things. If you’ve got a strength, lean on it because that unlocks everything else. When you’re starting out as a student or an architect, you tend to think about where your skill sets have gaps and then try to focus on the gaps. But actually, it’s more profitable to focus on the things that you’re much stronger at. That then becomes a way of seeing the world.
Betty Owoo is an architectural designer, educator and writer. She is a senior design officer in the Greater London Authority’s Design Unit and founder of multidisciplinary collective PATCH. She was named an RIBAJ Rising Star in 2022 while working with Be First London, Barking and Dagenham’s regeneration arm.
How has your work changed since becoming a Rising Star?
Since becoming a Rising Star in 2022 I have gone deeper into strategic work at the city scale in my new role as a senior design officer in the Greater London Authority's recently formed Design Unit. I still believe deeply in the transformative power of public sector service to shape our built environment for the better, and it has been really exciting to take my learnings and experience from working in a borough and apply them in a pan-London context.
My role has more focus on shaping policy and design guidance, and on participating in and advising on planning processes. But it is still underpinned by promoting design quality and inclusion in architecture and the public realm, above all ensuring that space in our city is open to underrepresented groups. This is a part of my practice that I am continuing to explore with PATCH Collective through collaborative writing and convening events and discussions that centre the expertise and lived experiences of diasporic communities.
What is one piece of advice that you would give your younger self before entering the profession?
There are so many jobs that you can do with a degree in architecture besides working as an architect in practice. You'll find your way to what is right for you by following your interests and not letting other people tell you what you should be doing instead.
How can we make the built environment a more inclusive place?
Creating a more inclusive built environment requires a multi-pronged approach. In education, we need to expand the canon of architecture, welcome diverse voices from global majority nations that have wisdom to share, and encourage students to draw on their lived experiences and bring these to the forefront. In the workplace, working in our sector needs to be an inviting enough proposition for people from underrepresented backgrounds to want to stay and provide their valuable contributions – we must offer liveable wages, good pensions, ample leave, flexible working and meaningful progression.
In commissioning and procurement, we should reimagine how risk is mitigated so that projects can be taken on by emerging firms with exciting ideas, promote collaboration between larger consultancies and SMEs, and share knowledge on best business practices. And in local and national government, we have to ensure new policy is rigorous and evidenced, that policy makers are representative of the diversity of our population, and meaningful capital investment is put into our public spaces to make them places of pride in our communities.
Are there any Black British built environment professionals who have inspired you or who deserve a shout-out?
I've been endlessly inspired by people around me working collectively to make change happen. In the public sector, people like Yemí Aládérun and Selasi Setufe, as well as Mayor's Design Advocates like David Ogunmuyiwa and Tara Gbolade are doing fantastic work creating more sustainable and inclusive places through their advocacy and day-to-day roles.
I am also inspired by people carving out niches in other areas – in particular, Lesley Lokko, whose work with the African Futures Institute and at the Venice Biennale has provided a platform for so many fantastic global majority practitioners. Finally, I'd give a shout-out to collectives such as POoR, Space Black, Afterparti and RESOLVE for demonstrating that a new interdisciplinary, values-driven mode of practice is possible.
View this year’s Rising Stars shortlist or find out more about what’s happening throughout UK Black History Month with the RIBA.