Pakistan's first-ever female architect Yasmeen Lari bags prestigious Jane Drew Prize

Published January 24, 2020
Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan's first-ever female architect. Her creations include Karachi's FTC building and PSO House. — Photo courtesy: Fukuoka Prize website
Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan's first-ever female architect. Her creations include Karachi's FTC building and PSO House. — Photo courtesy: Fukuoka Prize website

Pakistan’s first-ever female architect, Yasmeen Lari, has been chosen for the Jane Drew Prize 2020.

According to the Architects' Journal (AJ), Lari has been honoured "for her contribution to raising the profile of women in architecture and design."

At 79, Lari joins the ranks of Zaha Hadid, Amanda Levete, Elizabeth Diller, Denise Scott Brown, Odile Decq, Grafton Architects’ founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Kathryn Findlay of Ushida Findlay and Eva Jiřičná – who have all previously received the prize.

Commenting on being recognised for her efforts in architecture, Lari said: "I am touched and humbled to be included among the galaxy of architects who have received this prize."

According to AJ, Lari is known for landmark buildings in Karachi — where she set up her practice after graduating from Oxford Brookes’ architecture school in 1964. Her buildings include the Finance and Trade Centre (1983-89) and Pakistan State Oil House (1985-91).

In the early days of her career, Lari had designed the Anguri Bagh housing project in Lahore in 1973 and Lines Area Resettlement in 1980.

In later years, Lari moved to the ‘barefoot’ approach in architecture, "which aimed to tread lightly upon the plan and provide environmentally sustainable and participative solutions to lift up marginalised communities".

She started working in bamboo in 2007, providing community kitchens to refugees of the conflict in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Swat and later building community centres on stilts after floods hit KP and Sindh.

The award is named after Jane Drew, an advocate for women in a male-dominated profession.

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...