explore the works of yasmeen lari, riba's 2023 royal gold medallist

Yasmeen Lari wins the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal

Yasmeen Lari has been awarded the 2023 Royal Gold Medal for architecture by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Lari, a humanitarian and Pakistan’s first female architect has been recognized for her remarkable efforts in advocating for environmentally zero-carbon self-build approaches for displaced populations (see our previous article here). The official ceremony for the presentation of the Royal Gold Medal to Professor Lari is scheduled to take place in June 2023. Following Zaha Hadid, Lari has become the second woman to be honored with this award.

Through her designs, she tackles problems related to deforestation, pollution, and the health risks women in rural areas face. She addresses these issues with a systemic approach, ensuring that her designs are not only practical but also sustainable and effective. According to RIBA President Simon Allford, Yasmeen Lari is an inspiration who shifted her focus from serving international clients in a large practice to dedicating herself to humanitarian causes. Allford added that Lari’s work exemplifies how architecture can improve people’s lives.

portrait of Yasmeen Lari, photo © Anam Baig

one of the most influential voices in Pakistan and worldwide

‘I was so surprised to hear this news and of course totally delighted! I never imagined that as I focus on my country’s most marginalised people – venturing down uncharted vagabond pathways – I could still be considered for the highest of honours in the architectural profession,’ shared professor Lari, upon learning the news that she will receive the RIBA Medal. Yasmeen Lari was born in Pakistan in 1941, but at the age of 15, she moved to London with her family. There, she studied art before gaining acceptance to Oxford Brookes University’s School of Architecture, then known as Oxford Polytechnic. When she was 23, she and her husband returned to Pakistan to establish their architecture firm, Lari Associates.

In June 2022, Pakistan experienced devastating floods that resulted from a combination of unusually intense monsoon flooding and the melting of glaciers in the country’s lower, more densely populated regions. The floods caused significant damage, destroying homes and crops and displacing around thirty million people. Sindh province, where Lari’s Zero Carbon Cultural Centre is located, was among the hardest-hit areas. Despite the floodwaters inundating the center, Lari’s main concern lies elsewhere. ‘What’s important now is that whatever is being done in terms of shelter also starts giving people livelihoods,’ she says.

Yasmeen Lari above Women’s Centre, Pakistan © Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

Since leaving commercial architecture, Lari has made it her mission to share her knowledge of building practices. Carrying the title of an ‘Architect for the Poorest of the Poor’, she focused on proving herself in the construction industry and worked on major projects in Karachi, including the Taj Mahal (now Regent Plaza) Hotel (1981), The Finance and Trade Center (1989), and Pakistan State Oil House (1991). Although these schemes have a brutalist aesthetic and cater to big corporations and the wealthy, Lari believes low-impact architecture is crucial for the other 99% of people living on the margins. As she stated during an RIBA talk in 2022, ‘Those who live on the margins need more, not less, design.’

Upon returning to Pakistan as an architect, she gained a new perspective on construction methods. In addition to her commercial projects, she also became knowledgeable about the country’s heritage, working to preserve monuments and serving as a UNESCO advisor at the World Heritage Site of Makli. This became the focus of her work after retiring from practice in 2000. For years, Yasmeen Lari has empowered numerous disaster-affected communities, especially women, to achieve self-sufficiency by imparting training in low-tech, participatory, and disaster-resilient methods. Yasmeen Lari’s work is driven by a desire to democratize architecture and inspire designers to use their skills to address urgent social challenges.

Zero Carbon Cultural Centre-Makli © Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

Lari’s success story includes the creation of Chula stoves, which are built by women using limecrete. This highlights a remarkable example of her dedication to feminist and environmental activism. Her design for these stoves not only created more flood-resistant cooking spaces but also provided a platform for women to work on instead of the floor. She took the idea to remote mountain villages hit by earthquakes with the help of volunteers and was amazed at the results. Women not only made the stoves but also decorated them. Today, there are approximately 80,000 of these stoves. Lari’s initiatives also extend to designs for pots and toilets, which go beyond shelter to the critical elements of making a safe home.

Now in her eighties, Yasmeen Lari is cognizant of her personal limitations. She is no longer traveling long distances through dangerous landslides and floods to train women directly, but instead, focusing on spreading her message.

‘Every country now needs this kind of work. You have homelessness everywhere,’ she explained. She believes that with the increasing environmental extremes caused by human-induced climate change, the importance of architectural thinking at both local and global levels is more crucial than ever for the future. ‘How does agriculture work? Do we need floating cities? There is change around the world. Architects must understand what the potential of their work is.’

‘Lari’s work in championing zero carbon and zero waste construction is exemplary. She has reacted imaginatively and creatively, making affordable projects that address the real and often urgent need for accommodation and basic services, but with generosity and an eye for the potential of everyday materials and crafts to make architecture at all scales. Her way of working also sets out to address the physical and psychological damage caused by major natural disasters – disaster that sadly inevitably will be ever more prevalent in our densely populated and climate-challenged planet,’ added Allford.