Mae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist, designer and educator from Ghana and the Philippines who works with agrowaste and renewable biobased materials. Through her work, Lokko explores themes of “generative justice” through the development of new models of distributed production and collaboration. In her artistic and design practice, her work deconstructs historical narratives and practices of extraction through the design of new material vocabularies and the prototpying of participatory models of production.
Lokko is an Assistant Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture (YSoA) . Her research at Yale’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture focuses on ecological design, integrated material life cycle design and the broad development and evaluation of renewable biobased materials. She has previously taught at Cooper Union, New York (USA) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy USA where she served as the Director of the Building Sciences Program as well as Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE).

Lokko holds a Ph.D. and Masters of Science in Architectural Science from the Center from Architecture, Science and Ecology (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute + SOM)and B.A from Tufts University.
Lokko is the founder of Willow Technologies, Ltd.based in Accra, Ghana that upcycles agrowaste into affordable biobased building materials and for water quality treatment applications. Her work was nominated for the Visible Award 2019, Royal Academy Dorfman Award 2020 and she was a finalist for the Hublot Design Prize 2019.
Lokko’s recent works have been exhibited at the the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA New York; the Nobel Prize Museum, Stockholm; Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands; Museum of the Future, Dubai; Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, Belgium; Sonsbeek Biennial, Netherlands; Somerset House. Triennale Milano, Italy, Somerset House, London, Radialsystem, Berlin, Luma Foundation, Arles, 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, Rhode Island School of Design and at the Royal Institute of British Architects-North. Her work has been featured in ICON Magazine, Blueprint, Wallpaper, MOLD Magazine, Frieze Magazine, RIBA Journal, DOMUS, DAMN Magazine and other global design publications.