Tosin Oshinowo is a Lagos-based Nigerian architect and the principal and founder of Oshinowo Studio, established in 2013. She has worked on several civic, commercial, and residential projects throughout Nigeria and is renowned for her socially responsive approach to architecture, design, and urbanism. Oshinowo’s key designs include a project with the United Nations Development Programme to build a new community in northern Nigeria for a village displaced by Boko Haram, the Maryland Mall in Lagos, and Adidas’ flagship store in West Africa. Her work demonstrates a strong interest in architectural history while embodying a contemporary perspective on African design and innovation. Her curatorial work focuses primarily on concerns of culture and identity, embodying a contemporary perspective of urbanism in the global South. She co-curated the second Lagos Biennial in 2019 and curated the second Sharjah Architecture Triennial in 2023. She also partnered with Lexus International on a conceptual design exploration for Design Miami 2020. Her research project, Alternative Urbanism: Self-organising Lagos Markets, received a special mention award at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale.
Oshinowo is a registered architect in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Before founding Oshinowo Studio, she worked in the offices of Skidmore Owings & Merrill in London and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam, where she was part of the team that designed the 4th Mainland Bridge proposal in 2008. Returning to Lagos, she practised at James Cubitt Architects and led notable projects, including designing the corporate head office building for Nigeria LNG in Port Harcourt.
She has a BA in Architecture from Kingston University London, an MSc in Development and Planning: Building and Urban Design in Development from the University College London, an AA Diploma from the Architecture Association London, and a Master’s in Business for Architecture and Design from IE University Madrid. She is a 2025 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.