Rebel Architecture: Pakistan’s First Female Architect Yasmeen Lari Uses Design to Tackle Real Issues
Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan’s first female architect, started out designing huge buildings like the Pakistan State Oil Building (seen in the background of the interview above). But when aid failed to materialize after the devastating 2010 floods, she turned to traditional techniques to design flood and earthquake proof buildings for people in remote regions. Yasmeen Lari is one of the most successful providers of disaster relief shelters in the world, having built over 36,000 houses for those hit by floods and earthquakes in Pakistan since 2010. Shunning the weak, mass-produced houses offered by international organisations, she uses vernacular techniques and local materials like lime and bamboo, with a tiny carbon footprint and simple enough for people to build themselves. With this she hopes to demonstrate the role that architecture can play in humanitarian aid. Lari was fittingly one of the subjects of Al Jazeera’s “Rebel Architecture” series, which uncovered key architects shunning the glamour of “starchitecture” and using design to tackle the world’s urban, environmental and social crises. She is also participating alongside over 100 other architects, artists, and designers in the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial this October.