The Presidents Fact-Finding Mission (PFFM) The High Road to 2034 is the “guiding star” for the future direction of the profession and the RIBA, towards and beyond 2034.

Yemi was one of eight champions tasked to consider crucial themes – diversity, practice, knowledge, values, strategy, delivery, climate emergency and education to develop a values framework for the profession.

The PFFM sets out a future landscape of how architects will survive and thrive, and how they and the RIBA need to evolve, how practice and academia can come together to better challenge and support each other, to make the significant positive contribution and value that architects and future architects strive to deliver.

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In this article for the Architect’s Journal as part of its Influence series, Yemí appreciates the watery magic of Venice.

Read her contribution here

Who is to blame for poor doors and cores? Developers, architects, registered providers, local authorities, housebuyers? One thing is clear – it’s not a technical or regulatory requirement.

Yemí was invited to contribute to this article by Steve Taylor for The Developer.

Exclusion and racial bias are built into our cities. In its debut publication Now You Know, Sound Advice – the platform exploring spatial inequality in architecture – has gathered the thoughts and reflections of more than 50 architects and urbanists of colour in an extraordinary compendium of essays, poems, interviews and, yes, advice on how to address the discrimination baked into our built environment.

Yemí‘s contribution is titled: ‘The black elephant in the room’

Photo by: Timi Akindele-Ajani

From gender equality in the built environment through to climate change and homelessness, architects are making themselves heard in new and innovative ways.

Yemí was interviewed for this article written by Amanda Baillieu

Yemí joined David Ogunmuyiwa, Rachel Birchmore and Louise Rodgers to chat about what, and who, motivates and inspires them; and the importance of reverse mentoring.

Recorded over 12 months from April 2020 to April 2021 by Co-hosts Rachel and Louise, recorded a series of podcasts which stand as a ‘real time’ record of how existing and emerging leaders were navigating the choppy waters of a global pandemic.

For this Learning from Lockdown publication, Yemí and other guests from the virtual couch share personal reflections on the lasting impact of the pandemic and how they shape and lead their work.

Edited by Alan Jones, Rob Hyde, this book is a series of curated essays by high-profile architecture and design leaders and educators on the topic of professionalism.

This book explores what contemporary professionalism within architecture is, and its future, encouraging the current and future profession to address professionalism across the industry.

Yemí kicks off the essays in chapter one., with a piece entitled ‘ Visible and invisible diversities : Why our profession needs to be holistically inclusive’

Edited by David Knight and Cristina Monteiro, this book celebrates the incredible diversity, design and culture of London’s public houses from opulent Victorian Gin Palaces and homely medieval Taverns to contemporary Micropubs and community-owned breweries.

Including over 120 pubs from across all 33 London boroughs, Public House traces tales of craft, architecture, music, black history, comedy, sport and heritage.

A drawing of the fantastic Ye Olde Mitre pub by Yemí and colleagues Stuart Darling, Alex Jenkins and Rob Mccarthy features in the book.

In one London borough, a quarter of residents are black. Yet of the 110 firms selected by the council to compete for £100m in fees, not a single one is led by a black architect writes Oliver Wainwright.

Yemí was invited by by Oliver Wainwright to share some views on this issue for this article for The Guardian.

The celebrated AJ Women in Practice issue which kickstarted the AJ Women in Architecture campaign, featuring interviews with over 50 female directors and practicing architects in Britain, including Zaha Hadid, Alison Brooks, Farshid Moussavi and many more.

Yemí’s work is used to illustrate an essay by Dr Alexandra Stara - Associate Professor at Kingston University and Reader in the History and Theory of Architecture. Dr Stara’s essay explores high achieving women in education and practice.

The Unlimited Edition is a super-local newspaper exploring, celebrating and speculating about the future of particular places. Each issue is place-based, delving into key themes, which shape our cities including places of work, cultural spaces, food networks and development legacies. The paper invited guest writers, policy-makers, artists, architects and community members to contribute creative snapshots of each place.

Curated by We Made That, Yemí was invited to contribute to edition III - Propositions ‘High Street Pick ‘n’ mix. In this feature the joyous potential of its multiplicity is celebrated . Taking one typical high street plot: a narrow frontage with several floors above, contributors were asked to imagine new uses for this familiar location.

Conceived and created by Cephas Williams, creator of 56 Black Men, Letter to Zion and the Black British Network, Portrait of Black Britain aims to build the largest collection of photographic portraits of Black people in the UK.

Portraits by: Cephas Williams

The first phase of a project was Co-Commissioned and launched at Manchester International Festival 2021. This major public exhibition at Manchester Arndale profiles a range of Black people living in the UK today, the contributions they make and the roles they play in society.

Yemí s portrait is number #018 of #116 in this series.

Portraits by : Cephas Williams

Yemí worked alongside the RIBA president Alan Jones and others to put together recommendations on social inclusion drawing on the Social Mobility Commission report, ‘State of the Nation’. This action plan as well as other contributions have been combined into an overarching policy which was approved by RIBA Council and shapes the RIBA’s work.

Image credit: Social Mobility Foundation + Jamie Quantrill

Instigated by Part W in 2020, prepared in collaboration and in friendship with others, these are co-authored, non-owned ideals developed by individuals + collectives wanting to see the institute being a truly inclusive, influential+ empowered organisation.

You are invited to recirculate, share, align with and build on #NewRIBA #MakingChange

Extracts from 2019 article : Part W’s founder Zoë Berman, of Studio Berman, said: ‘Looking back through history, revealing the many incredible women who have been overlooked, is an immensely important step in raising awareness about the contribution that has been made to architecture by women. That women have been cut out of awards systems and overlooked is a form of erasure.

Yemí and Sarah Akigbogun put forward Sharon Egretta Sutton, the first African American woman in the USA to become a full professor of architecture.