Yasmeen Lari

Yasmeen Lari (born c. 1941; Urdu: یاسمین لاری‎) is Pakistan's first female architect.[1][2] She is best known for her involvement in the intersection of architecture and social justice.[3] Since her official retirement from architectural practice in 2000, her UN-recognized NGO Heritage Foundation Pakistan has been taking on humanitarian relief work and historical conservation projects in rural villages all around Pakistan.[4] She was awarded with the prestigious Fukuoka Prize in 2016.

Lari speaks to BBC News in front of some of her houses in 2020

Early life

Yasmeen Lari was born in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan and spent her early years in and around Lahore in a renowned clan of Iraqi Biradari. Her father Zafarul Ahsan, an ICS officer, was working on major development projects in Lahore and other cities, through which Lari was exposed to architecture. Her sister is Pakistani politician Nasreen Jalil. When she was 15 years old, she first left Pakistan to go to London with her family.[2] Initially there for a vacation, she and her siblings ended up enrolling in school in London.[2] Upon her rejection from architecture school, Yasmeen Lari studied two years of arts in London before being accepted into the Oxford Brookes University School of Architecture.[2]

Career

After graduating from the Oxford School of Architecture in 1964, Lari returned to Pakistan at 23 with her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari, and opened her architecture firm Lari Associates in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.[2] She became the first female architect in Pakistan. Initially, she faced difficulties when workers at construction sites challenged her authority or knowledge because of her gender.[5]

In 1969, Lari became an elected Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).[6]

Houses buit by Lari's foundation in a Pakistani village, 2020

Her later projects included housing, such as the Angoori Bagh Housing (ABH) (1978), and commercial buildings, such as the Taj Mahal Hotel in 1981, the Finance and Trade Center in 1989, and the Pakistan State Oil House (PSO Company headquarters) in Karachi in 1991.[2]

Lari retired in 2000 from architectural practice.[7] However, she remains active with her historical preservation by serving as the advisor of the UNESCO project, as the executive director of Heritage Foundation Pakistan, and as the chairperson of the Karavan Initiatives.[7]

Between 2010 and 2014, among other projects Lari had built over 36,000 houses for those affected by Pakistan's floods and earthquakes. Lari implements traditional building techniques and local materials in rebuilding the Sindh Valley region of Pakistan.[8]

In 2013, she helped villagers in Awaran District who were hit by the 2013 Balochistan earthquake.[8]

Yasmeen Lari is one of the founders and current chairwoman of the Pakistani Chapter of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU),[9][10] created in 2018.[11]

Design philosophy

On architectural practice in Southeast Asia, Lari has said, "The two ends of the spectrum of the two worlds we live and work in are best captured in the words of two famous architects, Mies van der Rohe and Hassan Fathy. Mies van der Rohe, a master of putting the elements of a building together and the grand master of detail, has said: "I am first interested in a good building. Then I place it in the best possible spot.' In contrast Hassan Fathy, who has spoken more forcefully than any other on the beatify of the vernacular and the importance of tradition, states: 'You must start from the beginning, letting your new buildings grow from the daily lives of the people who will live in them, shaping the houses to the measure of people's songs, weaving the pattern of a village as if on the village looms, mindful of the trees and the crafts that grow there, respectful of the skylines and humble before the seasons.'"[12]

Architectural work

Completed projects
  • Naval Officers Housing, Karachi[13]
  • Angoori Bagh Housing (also known as ABH) (1978)[13]
  • Taj Mahal Hotel, Karachi (1981)[13]
  • Finance and Trade Center (FTC Building), Karachi (1989)[13]
  • Pakistan State Oil House (PSO House), Karachi (1991)[13]

Historical conservation and restoration projects (incomplete)

Bibliography

Some of Yasmeen Lari's publications include:

  • Slums and Squatter Settlements: Their Role and Improvement Strategy
  • Our Heritage in Muslim Architecture
  • Tharparkar and Sialkot after the War
  • 1993 – Traditional Architecture of Thatta[15]
  • 1997 – The Dual City: Karachi During the Raj (co-authored with her son, Mihail Lari)[14]
  • 1997 – The Jewel of Sindh: Samma Tombs on the Makli Hill (co-authored with her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari)[14]
  • 2001 – Karachi: Illustrated City Guide (photography by her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari)
  • 2003 – Lahore: Illustrated City Guide

Awards

In 2002, the Heritage Foundation received the U.N. Recognition Award from the United Nations for its efforts and results to promote cultural and historical conservation.[2]

In 2006, Lari was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, one of the highest civil awards by the Government of Pakistan, in recognition of her services to the architectural profession and to heritage conservation of historical sites in the country.[16]

In 2011, she received the Pakistani "1st Wonder Women of the Year Award".[17]

In 2016, she received the Fukuoka Prize for Arts & Culture.[18]

She has been awarded Jane Drew Prize 2020, raising the profile of women in architecture and design.[19]

Personal life

Yasmeen Lari lives in Karachi, Pakistan with her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari. She has three children.

References
  1. "Yasmeen Lari", International Archive of Women in Architecture. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  2. Kazmi, Laila (2008). "Women of Pakistan - Yasmeen Lari". Jazbah Magazine. Jazbah. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  3. Ashworth, Susie; Cleary, Alison (30 August 2018). "In conversation with ... Yasmeen Lari". Parlour. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  4. Oliver Wainwright (1 April 2020). "The barefoot architect: 'I was a starchitect for 36 years. Now I'm atoning'". The Guardian.
  5. Iftekhar, Anadil. "The Queen of Architecture". You! The New Woman Lifestyle. Jang Group of Newspapers. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  6. "Yasmeen Lari". ArchNet. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  7. Gillin, Jaime (2 July 2012). "Q&A with Pakistan's First Female Architect". Dwell. Dwell Media LLC. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  8. Watkins, Katie (26 August 2014). "Al Jazeera's Rebel Architecture: Episode 2, "The Traditional Future"". ArchDaily.com. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  9. "Pakistan | INTBAU". Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  10. Ebrahim, Zofeen T. (13 February 2020). "Architects must lower the carbon footprint in 'whatever they do'". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  11. "Chapters | INTBAU". Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  12. An emancipated place : the proceedings of the conference and exhibition held in Mumbai, February 2000 : women in architecture, 2000 plus : a conference on the work of women architects : focus South Asia. Somaya, Brinda., Mehta, Urvashi., Hecar Foundation. Mumbai: Hecar Foundation. 2000. ISBN 8175251948. OCLC 48041242.CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. Kaleem, Ayesha. "Yasmeen Lari: The Architect and the Saviour". NUST Science. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  14. Noorani, Asif (29 October 2012). "Fighting on different fronts". Dawn. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  15. "Traditional Architecture of Thatta". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  16. "About us". heritagefoundationpak.org. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  17. Wonderwomen of the Year Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  18. "Laureates, Yasmeen LARI". Fukuoka Prize (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  19. "Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari wins the Jane Drew Prize 2020". Dezeen. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
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