Renua Itsueli is an international architect with over a decade of experience designing and delivering complex projects across global cities from London and New York to Dubai and Lagos. She is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at London Business School as a Leadership Scholar while also professionally leading the adaptive reuse of heritage and commercial assets in the City of London for one of the most innovative companies in design and architecture.
Educated at the University of Cambridge (Bachelor/Master of Arts), Parsons School of Design (Master of Architecture), and now London Business School (Master of Business Administration), Itsueli combines cultural depth with technical and commercial rigour. She is a licensed architect in the U.S., and her academic and professional path reflects a commitment to interdisciplinary excellence and global relevance. She has contributed to architectural education as a visiting critic and lecturer at institutions including Columbia University and NYU. She is a founding committee member of The Diaspora Salon in Marrakech, a convening dedicated to fostering dialogue between Black creatives across the global African diaspora. The initiative seeks to connect architects, artists, designers and entrepreneurs working across geographies and disciplines, building a community that values exchange, leadership and long-term collaboration.
With roots across Africa, Europe and the U.S., Itsueli is part of a new generation of African globalists shaping the built environment and the cultural landscapes that surround it.
In this interview with IFEOMA OKEKE-KORIEOCHA, she speaks on what inspires her design approach when working across diverse urban environments, lessons from her experiences that can be applied to support more sustainable urban development and values that continue to anchor her approach to architecture, amongst others.
You’ve contributed significantly to award-winning projects across the Middle East, advanced sustainability-led competition entries in Nigeria, and played a key role in reimagining commercial workspaces in the UK. Working within leading international firms, your portfolio reflects deep engagement with a wide range of urban environments, each with distinct environmental and cultural priorities. What inspires your design approach when working across such diverse urban environments, and how do you ensure your work remains both globally innovative and locally grounded?
I am most inspired by the belief that when architectural design is really successful, it is able to capture something intangible about a place through the tangibility of spatial layouts and building materials. I believe this requires every project to begin with a deep understanding of context, not just geographically, but also culturally.
Innovation is inseparable from context. It must reflect the specific needs and realities of a place. When designing in Lagos, it might mean rethinking how locally available materials can be used more efficiently. In other settings, it might involve the integration of cutting-edge technologies. Neither is more valid than the other.
This is why I think the starting point for every project should be about making sure I am asking the right questions, and listening closely to what is being said, both explicitly and implicitly. Understanding what matters most in a particular place guides the design process in ways that lead to solutions that are both locally relevant and genuinely innovative.
The relationship between context and innovation is a strong theme in your projects, and a key driver of global sustainability goals in design. Having led the management of design teams on projects internationally recognised for both design excellence and environmental performance, what lessons from these experiences can be applied to support more sustainable urban development in African cities?
A key lesson has been the value of working with what already exists. On a recent project I managed, we were tasked with repositioning an existing commercial building to meet new expectations around performance, wellbeing, and flexibility. The challenge was to retain most of the existing fabric while radically improving energy efficiency and user experience. This meant careful coordination across design, engineering, and construction, reinforcing the importance of systems-wide thinking and resource efficiency in approaching design in a sustainable way.
When it comes to urban development in African cities, I feel there is often an assumption, or perhaps an expectation, that development has to mean demolishing what is there and starting from scratch. Through what I have learnt, I hope to see more of an evolution of design practice that does not begin with how much can be removed, but rather with how much we can do with what might already exist. This also means recognising that such an approach does not necessarily mean sacrificing quality or experience, but that it can also be a driver for design excellence.
One of the most recognised projects you have been part of is celebrated for its immersive spatial qualities, integration with landscape, and ambitious net-zero goals. What do you think is most important when guiding a multidisciplinary team and maintaining design intent through the complexity of delivery?
I think the most important part of guiding a multidisciplinary team is creating a shared understanding of the design intent early on, and then finding practical ways to protect that intent through every stage of delivery.
With regards to the project referenced, it was a large-scale public building delivered under a fixed timeline, with parallel design and construction packages. We were able to hold the vision not only through clarity of intent and decisive leadership, but by building trust across disciplines, enabling teams to work collaboratively and be integral to developing holistic design solutions.
The project went on to become one of the city’s top three attractions and received multiple accolades which was a testament to what is possible when cross-disciplinary teams are aligned not only around delivery but around a common design ambition.
You are currently pursuing an Executive MBA alongside your design leadership. How is this business education shaping your understanding of leadership in architecture?
Architecture is a collective practice, no one can deliver a project alone. Designing and delivering complex buildings requires the ability to lead through others. The more tools you have to build consensus, manage uncertainty, and support others in doing their best work, the more effectively you can deliver meaningful outcomes.
Pursuing an Executive MBA alongside my design leadership has sharpened this understanding. It has given me a broader perspective, one that is not only about finding design solutions, but about creating the conditions that allow others to thrive. It has also helped me think more strategically about how architecture sits within larger systems, financial, organisational, and political, and how leadership in this field increasingly demands fluency across those layers.
Looking across your journey so far, what values continue to anchor your approach to architecture, and how do you see those evolving in the years ahead?
What continues to anchor my approach is the belief that architecture can be both a platform for creative and cultural exchange within its immediate environment, as well as a tool of soft power that supports broader global narratives.
Looking ahead, I’m interested in how to continue applying what I’ve learned across different geographies and scales, and in staying open to the questions each new context, client and community asks of design.
