Yasmeen Lari

A rich exploration of the extraordinary life and work of celebrated architect Yasmeen Lari, winner of the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

After more than three decades as a renowned global architect, Yasmeen Lari, the first woman to open her own architecture firm in Pakistan in 1964, developed Zero Carbon Architecture, which unites ecological and social justice. This volume, edited by Angelika Fitz, Elke Krasny, and Marvi Mazhar, presents Lari’s trajectory from exemplary modernist to zero carbon revolutionary, with a focus on her remarkable contributions to the global architectural movement to decarbonize and decolonize. The book includes extensive photographs, drawings, and plans from Lari’s archive, most of which have not previously been shown or published.

Lari’s architectural thinking and activism have always gone beyond the quest for a singular built solution. Rather, she strategically plans systemic approaches and solutions, be it for housing, a heritage foundation, or zero-carbon shelters with communities at risk. Original essays from diverse international contributors contextualize Lari’s work; investigate architecture and the postimperial, postcolonial, and postpartition condition; and examine the intersections of architecture and human rights, climate change, decolonization, gender, care, activism, and vernacular innovation. More than a tribute to Yasmeen Lari’s extraordinary career, this volume brings her legacy forward and shows how to create change today.

Contributors:
Abira Ashfaq, Cassandra Cozza, Angelika Fitz, Runa Kahn, Anne Karpf, Elke Krasny, Marvi Mazhar, Chris Moffat, Anila Naeem, Raquel Rolnik, Helen Thomas, Rafia ZakariaIntroduction Yasmeen Lari Projects, Contexts, Concerns
Yasmeen Lari Architecture for the Future 10
Angelika Fitz and Elke Krasny
Karachi Modernism: Postcolonial Living 26
Angelika Fitz
Housing Equality: Innovating Modernism and Tradition 36
Elke Krasny
Icons for a Karachi Boulevard 48
Angelika Fitz
Material Ecologies: Building the Local 58
Elke Kransy, with additional research by Marvi Mazhar
Heritage as Future: Decolonizing Legacies 72
Elke Krasny
Building Policies, Laws, and Institutions 88
Angelika Fitz
The Architect as Humanitarian Worker 96
Elke Krasny, with additional research by Marvi Mazhar
A Zero-Carbon Revolution in Architecture 104
Angelika Fitz
Essentials for Life 120 
Angelika Fitz
"Every decision has a global impact." 140
Yasmeen Lari in Conversation with Angelika Fitz and Elke Krasny 
Karachi, 2022
Pakistan Under Construction 154
Chris Moffat
The Blossoming World of Yasmeen Lari 166
Helen Thomas
Recognition for Built Heritage: A Continuing Struggle 173
Anila Naeem
Karachi: Neoliberal Infrastructural Decisions and Development Crisis 183
Marvi Mazhar
The Gendered Impacts of Climate Change in Karachi 193
Abira Ashfaq
The Right to Housing 201
Interview with Raquel Rolnik by Elke Krasny
Care by Design: Women, Change, and the Climate Crisis 206
Anne Karpf
A Building Becomes More Beautiful by Its Usage 213
Runa Khan
The Stove Solution: Yasmeen Lari and the Reclamation of Feminist Knowledge 220
Rafia Zakaria
Teaching Zero-Carbon Design Methodologies 226
Cassandra Cozza
Building, Wounding, and the Future: On Planetary Care 234
Elke Krasny
Acknowledgments 246
About the Authors 249
About the Editors 253
About Yasmeen Lari 255
Bibliography 265
Index 277
Imprint 285“Strong words from a strong woman who, throughout her life, has been on the road less travelled.”
—Metropolis


“By placing the daily experiences of women and their roles as guardians of nature at the center of her work, Lari sets a precedent from which both architects and activists can learn.”
—Arch Daily


"A compelling tribute to an architect who has challenged the status quo and redefined the boundaries of her profession. . . . As the world grapples with the urgent need for sustainable solutions, Yasmeen Lari's approach to architecture provides a glimmer of hope for a more inclusive and sustainable future."
—STIR World“The world of Yasmeen Lari invites us to shift the axes of our worlds to other bodies of knowledge, literacies and imaginations. A much-desired discourse for our time.”
—Sumayya Vally, Principal of Counterspace
 
“Yasmeen Lari exemplifies the architect as an immense force for a more sustainable and humane world. From early in her career, she understood the necessity for architecture to participate expansively in building our societies. Her work remains a true inspiration.”
—Lori Brown, Professor, School of Architecture, Syracuse University; co-editor of The Bloomsbury Global Encyclopedia of Women in Architecture, 1960–2015Angelika Fitz is a curator and writer and Director of Architekturzentrum Wien, the Austrian Architecture Museum in Vienna. Elke Krasny is a cultural theorist, urban researcher, and curator, and is Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Introducing a critical care perspective, Fitz and Krasny initiated a paradigm shift in architecture and urbanism. Marvi Mazhar is an architect and researcher based in Karachi, Pakistan.