UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Architectural scientist, designer and educator Mae-ling Lokko will discuss her work as the founder of Willow Technologies, Ltd. in Accra, Ghana, which upcycles agricultural waste into affordable bio-based building materials and for water quality treatment applications, at 6 p.m. on Nov. 9 as part of the Stuckeman School’s Lecture & Exhibit Series. Co-sponsored by the Department of Architecture, the talk will be live-streamed by WPSU.

The Stuckeman School is the largest academic unit in the College of Arts and Architecture.

In “Grounds for Return," Lokko will explore themes of “generative justice” through the development of new models of distributed production and collaboration. Her research focuses on ecological design, integrated material life cycle design and the broad development and evaluation of renewable biobased materials. Her work was nominated for the Visible Award 2019 and Royal Academy Dorfman Award 2020, and she was a finalist for the Hublot Design Prize 2019.

Her projects have been exhibited globally at the Somerset House, London as part of the Sonsbeek Biennial (2020); Serpentine Gallery, London (2019); Radialsystem, Berlin (2019); Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (2019); Luma Foundation, Arles (2019); Istanbul Design Biennial (2018); Rhode Island School of Design (2018); Royal Institute of British Architects-North as part of the Liverpool Biennial 2018; and at the Mmofra Foundation, Accra (2017).

Lokko has taught at The Cooper Union and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where she served as the director of the Building Sciences program as well as assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE). 

Lokko holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in architectural science from RPI and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.