As was the case in many settler-colonial regimes, like the U.S. in Puerto Rico, the British Empire aggressively enlisted colonized peoples into its military during wartime. A new commemoration project by Tosin Oshinowo will speak to this history. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed 44 war memorials all throughout the U.K. before his death in 1940. Lutyens also built a World War I memorial in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in a government building courtyard. It was updated after World War II to include the names of more dead Sierra Leonean soldiers. Tosin Oshinowo of Oshinowo Studio, a Lagos architecture office, is now adapting Sierra Leone’s National Memorial for Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Oshinowo is the first woman and the first West African to be commissioned by CWGC, the organization said. The update will deliver structural glass members atop the existing Lutyens memorial.The memorial, CWGC added, will honor the Carrier Corps, or “non-combatant laborers and soldiers from across Africa that contributed toward campaigns.” The Carrier Corps transported war supplies “across terrain that was impassable to vehicles and animals”—at least 946 of them died in combat, and were never commemorated. The original design by Lutyens is a squat masonry block with plaques on the sides that slightly tapers upward in profile. The existing memorial has the names of 229 soldiers who died in World War I, and also World War II casualties, but no names of Carrier Corps members. This will soon change: Oshinowo Studio’s proposed design modifies the existing block’s top section with a new pyramid made of structural glass. A beacon of light will shine from the pyramid’s apex, making the memorial visible from 2 miles away at night when it shines. The addendum will be made of four structural glass blades etched with the names of 946 Carrier Corps members. “Honoring the past, shaping the future, our design for the Freetown memorial stands not only as a tribute to the fallen, those who lost their lives during the First World War, but as a symbol of Sierra Leoneans’ collective commemoration, representing cost of war and a people’s resilience, as well as the global commitment to peace for generations to come,” Oshinowo said in a statement. The overall project is informed by CWGC’s Non-Commemoration Report, which is meant to combat historical inequities in British World War I memorials. So far, CWGC has completed a new memorial in Cape Town, South Africa, as part of the campaign, among other works. #tosin #oshinowo #update #world #war

Harvard GSD has announced the Class of 2026 Loeb Fellows. The 10 winners come from varied disciplines and places—Quito, Pittsburgh, Stockholm, Los Angeles, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Glasgow. The Loeb Fellowship gives mid-career professionals the chance to stay at Harvard and MIT for 10 months, and engage with students, participate in round tables, convene workshops, and more. Harvard GSD dean Sarah M. Whiting said this year’s batch are “inspiring individuals” and represent “exceptional practitioners in their respective fields.” She said she looks forward to the fellows “sparking new conversations and challenging us all to consider how design can address global challenges.” Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian’s London-based architecture critic, is among the fellows. Wainwright follows in the foot steps of past architecture critics to have earned the fellowship, like Inga Saffron, Mark Lamster, Alexandra Lange, Pilar Viladas, Henry Grabar, and others. Both Saffron and Lange were fellows prior to winning Pulitzer Prizes for Criticism. Loeb Fellow Daniela Chacón Arias is cofounder and executive director of TANDEM, a Quito, Ecuador–based consultancy. Other fellows participating in the 2026 iteration include, Cecilia Cuff, founder of The Nascent Group in Chicago; Jeremiah Ellison, Ward 5 City Councilmember in Minneapolis; and  Brazilian architect Pedro Évora Amaral. Jennifer Hughes of the National Endowment for the Arts; Natalia Rudiak, director of special projects at ReImagine Appalachia in Pittsburgh; Jacek Smolicki, founder of Ekoton in Stockholm; Andy Summers, founder and co-director of Architecture Fringe in Glasgow; and Julia Thayne, founder of Twoº & Rising in Los Angeles, are also 2026 Loeb Fellows. Jacek Smolicki is the 2026 Loeb/ArtLab Fellow. Architect John Loeb is the Loeb Fellowship’s namesake. John Peterson—an architect, activist, and a Loeb Fellow in the class of 2006—now curates the fellowship. “In his autobiography, John Loeb reflected that among his many philanthropic endeavors, the Loeb Fellowship stood out as the most personally rewarding,” Peterson said. “Until their passing in 1996, John and his wife, Frances, hosted a luncheon for each year’s class of fellows at their home,” Peterson continued. “It was not the program alone, but the people—their talents, aspirations, and potential—that inspired their deep appreciation for this unique investment. In difficult times, when the future can feel bleak, it is the vision and actions of individuals with a shared purpose that rekindle hope and remind us that better futures are possible.” Tosin Oshinowo, Shana M. griffin, Tawkiyah Jordan, and others were among the 2025 Loeb Fellows. The 2026 Loeb Fellowship will commence in August 2026. #harvard #gsd #class #loeb #fellows