Juliet Sakyi-Ansah, ARB, RIBA, is the founder of Studio OASA, a transdisciplinary architectural practice developing scalable solutions for social and environmental impact. Her work integrates design, community‑centred and industry research, and advocacy across academic, professional, and civic contexts.
Her current research investigates how Building Information Modelling (BIM) can support meaningful community participation in settlement upgrading. She teaches on the BA Architecture programme at the University of Liverpool and contributes to the People, Leadership and Organisations module on the MSc Project Management programme at Oxford Brookes University.
Juliet is also the founder and steward of The Architects’ Project® and Black in Architecture®, platforms centred on equity, inclusivity, and sustainability within the built environment.
Immersive PhD Research & Fieldwork, Accra, 2023
Juliet’s work comes from a way of being that understands architecture as real‑world practice, grounding her practice in land, people, and how we inhabit the world. Her commitment to meaningful and purpose‑driven pursuits is rooted in deeply held values and principles. Juliet approaches her work with integrity, care, and deep attentiveness, ensuring that each step aligns with her values and her commitment to relational, place‑based practice. For Juliet, architecture is not the production of structures alone; it is a way of living that honours the past, attends to the present, and contributes to futures with intention.
Juliet's mission is to live and practice architecture as a relational and grounded way of being, a catalyst for transformative change. Her goal is to address critical social inequities and environmental challenges through conditions that support connection, belonging, and collective flourishing. Her approach is guided by presence, listening, and attunement to the communities and landscapes she engages with. Through the lens of architecture as a practice that emerges from lived experience and shared knowledge, she works to create conditions where these forms of knowing can guide spatial practice.
Juliet envisions a future where architecture is also about lived experience. She imagines spatial practices that uplift communities, honour cultural memory, and respond to the complexities of place. Her vision is one where architecture supports resilience, nurtures relationships, and reflects the diverse ways people inhabit and make meaning in the world.
Tapping Local Resources for Sustainable Development Workshop Co-facilitated with Anna Webster - Abetenim Ghana, 2015
Juliet’s practice is grounded in embodied and relational methodologies. She engages with communities through presence, movement, and shared meaning‑making, allowing spatial understanding to emerge from the realities of daily life.
Research Through Being in Place, with the People
Juliet adopts research strategies focused on achieving meaningful results, often requiring immersion. Through fieldwork, walking, conversation, and time spent in community, she learns from the lived knowledge of the people and places she works with. She embraces exploratory research that welcomes uncertainty and discovery, allowing new spatial possibilities to emerge from the ground up.
Participatory Practice
Juliet centres the voices and experiences of the communities she works alongside. Her participatory approach ensures that spatial decisions are informed by those who inhabit the environments being considered. She advocates for processes that are inclusive, culturally grounded, and responsive to the needs and aspirations of marginalised groups.
Collaborative Platforms
Juliet cultivates collaborative environments where practitioners, communities, and partners come together to address spatial challenges. She values transdisciplinary exchange and collective problem‑solving, recognising that meaningful spatial work emerges from shared insight, diverse perspectives, and mutual respect.
Pedagogy and Learning
Juliet contributes to more inclusive and equitable architectural education by integrating critical perspectives and holding space for diverse histories and forms of knowledge within teaching and practice. She challenges systemic biases and works to create learning environments that reflect the richness and complexity of the communities architecture serves.
Creative Spatial Experimentation
Integrating creative and social practices into spatial projects, Juliet uses experimentation as a way to explore new forms of engagement. Through interactive and participatory interventions, she creates environments that invite play, dialogue, and collective imagination.
Digital Tools with People and Place
Juliet uses digital technologies in ways that support collaboration, adaptability, and responsiveness to community needs. She approaches technology from a people‑centred perspective, where digital tools enhance rather than override the agency and relational context of life.
Three-Year PhD Scholarship
Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment, Oxford Brookes University, 2019
SSoA Centenary Prize
Sheffield School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, 2010
Sir H K Stephenson Travelling Studentship in Architecture
Sheffield School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, 2009
Three-Year Stephen Lawrence Bursary Award
SLCT - BA Architecture, University of Sheffield, 2002
Black Achievers Award
Afro-Caribbean Cultural Centre, West Midlands, 2000
Torija Nieto, N., 2024. Princeton SoA Womxn in Design and Architecture Conference centers the work of Ghanaian architect, builder, and environmentalist Alero Olympio. The Architect's Newspaper, 2024.
Radio Public
Workshop 24, "Radio Public", Resonance FM, 2023.
Jessel, E., 2021. Black in Architecture: New research team to draw up charter on race. Architect’s Journal, 6 August.
Lokko, M., 2020. Worldforming by Ghanaian Women in Architecture. Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions magazine, March.
Oxford Brookes University, 2021. Black in Architecture - capturing experiences, addressing racism. Oxford Brookes University, 26 July.
Future of Ghana Publication, 2018. The Architects’ Project: Advancing Architectural Learning. Future of Ghana, pp. 56–84.
Guillet, C., 2014. The Architects’ Project: Development through Architecture in Accra. L'Afrique des Idées, 21 October.