Elsie Owusu

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Elsie Owusu OBE RIBA FRSA (* 1953 in Ghana ) is a Ghanaian- British architect .

Education and career

Elsie Owusu was born in 1953 in what was then the British Crown Colony of Gold Coast , in what is now Ghana , as the daughter of a diplomatic family. She moved to England when she was eight, where she also spent most of her life. In London she attended Streatham and Clapham High School . In 1971 she gave birth to a daughter. From 1974 she studied architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture . She graduated in 1984.

In 1986 she founded her own architectural office, Elsie Owusu Architects (EOA), which she still manages today. From 2006 she was a partner at “Feilden + Mawson” for almost 10 years. She is the managing director of the British company JustGhana , which aims for investments, sustainable development and constructive social engagement in Ghana. She is also the director of ArchQuestra , which seeks to use the "best of British architecture, art and engineering" to empower emerging economies.

Owusu has been Vice President of the London School of Architecture since 2014.

Social and professional engagement

She was a founding member and first president of the Society of Black Architects . Commenting on her appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003, she said: “I am very proud to have been appointed OBE for my work as Chair of the Society of Black Architects . I'm a politically active architect, that's my thing. That is an essential part of my life as an architect! "

She has been an elected member of the Council of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) since 2014 .

In 2017, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence , a 19-year-old black physics student who wanted to become an architect after completing his studies and had fallen victim to racist murder, Owusu founded the "RIBA + 25- together with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust " Campaign “to promote diversity in architecture too. The British Architects' Journal found in 2015 that this occupational field was "one of the least diverse in the UK", 94% of all architects are white (87% of the general population) and only 4000 of the 27,000 registered RIBA members are women. The "RIBA + 25" initiative, supported by prominent colleagues such as David Adjaye and Richard Rogers , achieved that Owusu was no longer the only non-white member of the RIBA Steering Committee, but that this number rose to 12. In 2015 she became responsible for inclusion and diversity at RIBA .

Her candidacy for the 2018 presidency of RIBA was unsuccessful, but was supported by many notable architects, including Sir Sir David Adjaye OBE and Owen Luder CBE, and celebrities such as Doreen Lawrence , mother of Stephen Lawrence and a member of the House of Lords . In her application, Owusu pointedly addressed institutionalized racism and sexism in the architecture industry.

She was a board member of Arts Council England , the National Trust of England and the UK Supreme Court Arts Trust , as well as a curator at the Architectural Association .

Projects

  • In 2008 her designs for the renovation of the London Underground's Green Park Station were accepted, and in 2016 the project was completed under her construction management.
  • In 2009 Elsie Owusu played a leading role in the renovation of the Middlesex Guildhall , home to the British Supreme Court .
  • Since 2000 she has been working regularly as an architect in the field of monument preservation on renovation projects in the Ghanaian capital Accra .
  • In 2012, the EOA, together with the artist Peter Blake, constructed a low-energy house in 60 Aden Grove, London, which could be built within three days.
  • In 2014, Owusu, in collaboration with Fielden + Mawson, was commissioned to redesign the Lammas Center , a large psychiatric therapy facility in the West London borough of Ealing .
  • Owusu and EOA worked in cooperation with Symbiotica and NS Design Consultants in 2018 on the property of the British- Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare .

Awards

  • 2014 African Business Woman of the Year award .
  • 2017 Presentation of the Recognition Award by Women4Africa

Web links

Source references

  1. ↑ a b c Caroline Davies, "Riba investigates architect's allegations of institutional racism" , The Guardian , December 3, 2015.
  2. ^ "RIBA Role Model: Elsie Owusu" , RIBA, Architecture.com, June 1, 2015.
  3. ^ Richard Waite, "Elsie Owusu leaves Feilden + Mawson" , Architects' Journal , October 25, 2015.
  4. ^ "About" , Elsie Owusu Architects.
  5. ↑ a b c Kelly L. Beamon, "Interview with RIBA President Candidate Elsie Owusu" , Architectural Record , July 3, 2018th
  6. ↑ a b c d e "Elsie Owusu, Vice-Chair of the Trustee Board" ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The London School of Architecture. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.the-lsa.org
  7. ↑ a b Adam Lusher: Riba run like a racist 'boy's club', says leading female architect ( en-GB ) December 2, 2015.
  8. ↑ a b Elsie Owusu OBE . Royal Institute of British Architects . Archived from the original on January 29, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 28, 2019. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.architecture.com
  9. ↑ Elsie Owusu . January 12, 2012.
  10. ^ "Championing diversity in the architecture profession," Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
  11. ↑ https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/167333/umfrage/ethnien-in-grossringen/
  12. ↑ a b Jonathan Morrison, "Threats sent to architect Elsie Owusu after she said Riba what racist" , The Times , April 17, 2018th
  13. ↑ a b Nana Ocran, "Regenerating Accra's forgotten areas" , Design Indaba , June 25, 2015.
  14. ↑ "RIBA Role Models" , RIBA, Architecture.com, August 30, 2017.
  15. ↑ https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/alan-jones-elected-riba-president-2019-21
  16. ↑ Richard Waite, "Owusu and Jones throw hats into ring to be next RIBA president" , Architects' Journal , April 13, 2018th
  17. ^ "Candidate for the RIBA Presidency: Elsie Owusu OBE" , RIBA.
  18. ↑ Alannah Francis, "Architect Elsie Owusu Could Be RIBA's First Black President" , The Voice , April 18 2018th
  19. ↑ Anja Popp, "Leading architect says institutional racism has not gone away" , Channel 4 News , April 22, 2018.
  20. ↑ Sahiba Chadha: Elsie Owusu collaborates with Sir Peter Blake on low energy house in Hackney ( en )
  21. ↑ Elizabeth Hopkirk2014-03-26T09: 20: 00 + 00: 00: Feilden & Mawson wins planning for west London revamp ( en )
  22. ^ Elsie Owusu Architects - House for Yinka Shonibare MBE RA .
  23. ^ "Ghana at Fifty: Leaders on the UK Arts scene" , Africa Beyond - Celebrating African Arts in the UK , BBC, May 21, 2007.
  24. ↑ "Award Winners 2014" ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , African Enterprise Awards. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.africanenterpriseawards.co.uk
  25. ↑ Steve Onions, "Africa's Business Woman of the Year, Elsie Owusu offers advice for architects hoping to break into the region" , Building Construction Design , December 8, 2014.
  26. ↑ admin: 'Elsie Owusu OBE' set to receive Recognition Award at Women4Africa 2017 - Women4Africa Blog ( en-GB )
personal data
SURNAME Owusu, Elsie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ghanaian-British architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Ghana