Guests celebrate inauguration of first black and youngest ever RIBA president, writes Ben Flatman
The RIBA celebrated the inauguration of its new president, Muyiwa Oki, with an event at Portland Place last night. Guests included former RIBA presidents and a diverse group of figures from across architectural practice, education, and the wider built environment sector.
Oki, who took office on 1 September, told BD: “I’m feeling proud and honoured. Looking around at the diversity here this evening, I feel this is just the beginning. I’m also a little daunted by the history, but ready to get on with the job.”
Oki, who is the first black candidate to be elected to the position, won the presidency with a campaign that promised a greater focus on the concerns of salaried architects, such as low pay and long hours. He also advocated for greater diversity in the profession, and a stronger emphasis on reuse and the climate emergency.
Neal Shasore, head of the London School of Architecture, and a key supporter of Oki’s agenda said: “The significance of this evening is the prospect of the beginning of fundamental change, but also and perhaps more importantly, improved access to architecture. Muyiwa represents a vision of a more diverse and more inclusive institutional framework around the RIBA.
“That being said, he needs support and companionship and collaboration. We have to remember that the RIBA president is not an executive role – it is representational, it is symbolic. We have to be careful and supportive of him and not demand too much of him but work with him to affect the beginnings – and it is just the beginnings – of change.”
“Muyiwa’s youth is one of the most important things about this moment. I hope he brings a new liveliness, as well as hard-hitting change”
Former RIBA president Sunand Prasad noted the significance of Oki working for a contractor, MACE, rather than a conventional architectural practice: “What is amazing is that he’s from the construction side. Not only is he a salaried architect, but he doesn’t work for an architectural practice as such. It’s an incredible sign of the change that has taken place in the way that architecture is practised.”
> Also read: ‘I don’t seek permission, I ask for forgiveness’ – Muyiwa Oki on his plans for his RIBA presidency
> Also read: Muyiwa Oki: All architects need to be agents of change
Prasad noted that RIBA’s introduction of a presidential stipend just over a decade ago had been intended specifically to help enable salaried architects and small practitioners to countenance taking on the role. “It feels different”, he said of the diverse and noticeably younger group of guests at the event, before adding: “But it’s going to be challenging for him – it always is.”
Sumita Singha, the RIBA councillor, board member and trustee, who ran against Oki in last year’s election, said: “I think it’s wonderful to see diversity in action and it’s good to see young people engaging. The RIBA needs them and to see them engaged is brilliant.”
Jane Duncan, who was RIBA president from 2015 to 2017 said: “Muyiwa’s youth is one of the most important things about this moment. I hope he brings a new liveliness, as well as hard-hitting change.
“I hope that, by the time his presidency comes to an end, being young, black and brilliant will be seen as the norm at the RIBA and not an exception.”
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