Architecture trailblazer Muyiwa Oki on building for tomorrow, AI and the race for net zero

When Muyiwa Oki became the president of Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) two years ago, he was the first Black president of the prestigious architecture body in its 190-year history and the youngest at 32.

He came into the role promising to tackle workers’ rights and diversity in the industry as well as the role building designers play in the race for net zero.

His two-year spell in charge comes to an end in August.

As he prepares to bow out, there is no shortage of challenges to face. The rise of Reform UK has created a very different environment, calling for both diversity and net-zero policies to be axed while the rise of artificial intelligence threatens architects’ roles.

But Oki is pressing on with the task of championing retrofit – making the most of existing buildings and making them more energy efficient is a vital part of tackling the climate crisis. 

RIBA has joined forces with The King’s Foundation for a series of events to get the best minds in architecture working on how to decarbonise 29 million homes and scores of other non-residential buildings from offices to data centres.

Making Britain’s buildings greener is quite a task for Oki’s legacy.

“Retrofit will be part of the, I’d say, two or three points of legacies,” said Oki. “We’ve set up a reinvention award to push the retrofit up the national agenda. It looks at how we need to improve buildings for environmental, social as well as economic sustainability. It’s great to see, in the first year that it was set up, some fantastic buildings that were shortlisted for our Stirling Prize were also part of the reinvention.”

The first event – titled Reimagining resources – Buildings, crafts and materials – happened last month.

It came just days before Reform UK’s Richard Tice controversially wrote to energy companies putting them and their investors on “formal notice” that net-zero funding would be axed if the party makes it into power.

That underlines the need for including communities in construction projects around retrofit.

Oki said the approach the King’s Foundation took with Fleetwood Hospital in Lancashire was an inspiration in keeping the community invested. 

The NHS closed the hospital in 2008 and it lay mostly empty for the next decade until locals formed the Fleetwood Trust to buy the freehold for £800,000 in 2018.

The trust teamed up with the King’s Foundation to convert the building into a multi-use community hub with sustainability at the heart of the project. Solar panels on the roof and high performance timber windows were among some of the earliest changes made.

As of this summer, construction work on the ground floor of the building has been completed with flexible spaces for health and wellbeing, exercise, art, youth clubs, office space and training kitchens. A cafe, operated by social enterprise OneFylde, recently opened its doors.

It’s a good example of how the community is key in order to make big buildings more energy efficient and to make the most of the ones we have.

“I think about that quote from Field of Dreams: If you build it they will come,” said Oki. “But not really, most people won’t come. So you have to talk with them and build it with them so they can come with you.”

Net zero is not the only challenge architects face. Oki is also grappling with how artificial intelligence can impact the industry.

A recent RIBA poll found that the proportion of architects utilising AI is on the rise, up from 41% in 2024 to 59% a year later.

Like much of the wider conversation on AI, there are both positives and negatives.

Around two-thirds of architects think AI will help the sector meet net-zero targets with a similar amount backing the technology to boost productivity in the construction industry. But an identical amount have concerns that their work will be imitated.

Only 18% of architecture practices thought that AI would lead to job losses while just 4% thought human creativity would be rendered redundant.

“We set up an advisory group and council to look at the issue and support the profession as to how we respond to this ever-growing tool that’s going to be part of our lives going forward, whether we like it or not,” said Oki.

“We need to take a political leadership role in steering the use of AI.

“We talked about AI as a methodology to open systems so that things can be more interoperable. I think that is the stance that we are taking and I believe the industry should take, instead of creating walled gardens or silos, which is a thing that we unfortunately always default to when we need to make the systems interoperable so architecture isn’t diminished.”

Whether AI has an impact on architecture jobs or not, diversity and workers rights has also been Oki’s mind since he first ran for RIBA president.

Oki’s pioneering appointment in the role was a notable milestone and one that he believes is valuable for others who find their way into the industry.

“As a profession, we need to be able to speak to different people, the next generation, who want to be part of the architecture profession,” he said. “We need to have a competitive industry and a competitive profession for people who have come from elsewhere in the economic lives.

“I think I’ve been able, as much as possible, advocate for the role architecture plays in people’s lives. Again this speaks to that competitiveness and what does the future competitiveness look like for a profession and an institute like ours that is almost 200 years old.”

Efforts are underway to crystalise RIBA’s history and make it accessible for all. The £85 million House of Architecture programme is digitising Britain’s architectural history.

Looking to the future, RIBA’s decarbonisation work will go on and continue to shape the buildings of tomorrow. 

Oki, who works at London architect Mace, will still continue working in the sector.

As his two-year spell driving the industry forward comes to an end, what would he tell himself if he had chance to do it all again.

“I’d say relax a little bit,” he told Big Issue.”But, then again, the fact I wasn’t relaxed about it meant that I was taking it as seriously as possible. So, maybe, I think I would tell myself that it’ll all be okay in the end and to put my best foot forward.”

A second RIBA/King’s Foundation event will be held in September, exploring the importance of retrofit in creating healthy indoor environments. Tickets will go live on architecture.com later this summer.

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