Archinect - News

RIBA honors 2023 Royal Gold Medal winner Yasmeen Lari with short documentary

2023-06-20T11:47:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has released a new short documentary feature honoring 2023 Royal Gold Medalist Yasmeen Lari following her acceptance of the award at a special presentation held last week in London.

The Pakastani-born architect was named the Gold Medal's 174th recipient in April. RIBA recognized Lari, also the first female architect to practice in the country, over her groundbreaking humanitarian and climate-sensitive designs, which showcase “how architecture changes lives for the better,” according to a statement made by President Simon Allford at the announcement.

The 82-year-old detailed her approach to sustainable and seismic design, including her four ‘Zeros’ and refusal to work with cement, steel, and corporate handouts. She also discusses her work with renewable materials such as bamboo, earth, and lime, as well as the role of craft, women designers, and the democratization of the profession in her ongoing architectural aspirations.

Previously ...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs collection of emergency shelters for displaced communities

2022-12-20T11:20:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed a collection of tents to be used as schools, clinics, and emergency shelters for displaced communities. The 27 tents, constructed with the support of the Education Above All Foundation, have been donated to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the Qatar Red Crescent.

Photo credit: Luke Hayes

Described by the ZHA team as a “robust, cost-effective, and lightweight modular architectural system,” the weatherproof structures are designed to be easily moved and re-assembled, with components that can be upcycled or recycled. Supported by a curving steel frame clad with fabric, the internal environment offers an open-plan layout lit by diffuse natural light.

Photo credit: Luke Hayes

Before the donation, the tents were being utilized as schools for hundreds of displaced Pakistani children in Pakistan, and Syrian children in Turkey. In their new capacity, ten tents donated to the IOM will serve as schools in Turkey and Yemen, while five will ...

MoMA's next exhibition will explore the role architecture played in shaping post-colonial South Asia

2021-11-11T16:53:00-05:00

MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design has announced a forthcoming new exhibition that will examine the way in which the modern architecture of former colonial enterprises helped shape the post-independence era of self-determination politics in latter South Asia.

Woman carrying cement at the Capitol Complex, Chandigarh, India, in front of the Secretariat (1951–58) designed by Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887–1965). 1956. Photograph: Ernst Scheidegger.

Comprised of over 200 photos, architectural models, and other media taken from institutions in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, the exhibition highlights key projects from some of the region’s most prominent designers, including Mahendra Raj and 2018 Pritzker laureate Balkrishna Doshi.

Chittagong University, Chittagong, East Pakistan (Bangladesh). 1965–71. Vastukalabid (est. 1964). Muzharul Islam (1923–2021). Master plan. Ink and pencil on paper. Muzharul Islam Archives.

The exhibition was organized by MoMA...

From corporate towers to humanitarian work, Yasmeen Lari reflects on her architectural career

2020-04-01T15:16:00-04:00

“I feel like I am atoning for some of what I did,” says Yasmeen Lari with an embarrassed chuckle. “I was a ‘starchitect’ for 36 years, but then my egotistical journey had to come to an end. It’s not only the right of the elite to have good design.”

Oliver Wainwright talks with Yasmeen Lari, who was named the 2020 Jane Drew Prize laureate earlier this year. She looks back on her architectural career, which began with designing glitzy corporate monuments and then switched to humanitarian work after the devastating 2005 Pakistan earthquake. She also shares what she's learned about disaster preparedness, how design has helped raise the status of women in Pakistan, and how she feels about winning the notable Jane Drew Prize.

Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan's first woman architect: "We need to democratize architecture"

2016-04-12T14:07:00-04:00

All of us, including myself have been engaged in catering to the 0.1 per cent through our work. Our training has always been in material and designing architecture for that one per cent. The kind of world we live in today, we need to democratise architecture. I know that it may give an impression that I am saying this only because I am retired now, but I have become deeply involved in how architecture can provide social justice and (grounds) for an equitable society.

Relocation or Adaptation: Earth Home Project Brings Relief to Pakistanis Reeling from Floods

2015-02-14T11:58:00-05:00

In July 2010, heavy monsoon rains flooded nearly 20% of Pakistan, producing a crisis later described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the worst disaster he had ever seen. The floods affected around 20 million people and claimed the lives of nearly 2,000. Ravaging infrastructure and agriculture, the total economic impact has been estimated to be as much as $43 billion. Pakistan is still far from recovering, in no small part because of a calamitous lack of relief funds and international aid.

In total, the floods left six million people homeless. Already in a precarious state afters decades of conflict and terrorist attacks, Pakistan’s infrastructure crumbled beneath the torrents of water. Then, in the fall of 2014, the strongest post-monsoon ever recorded in the country produced another round of disastrous floods in the Kashmir region of Pakistan and neighboring India. Affecting a total of more than 1.1 million people, the floods devastated an already-desperate population.

And, li...

Lahore authorities battle to restore splendour of ancient Walled City

2013-06-04T17:19:00-04:00

The Walled City's gardens and squares are now obscured by illegal shops and businesses, the skyline cluttered by unplanned tenements and bundles of cables. For many of the 200,000 inhabitants crammed into these 4sq km, a fraction of Lahore's 7m population, drinking water is a rarity. But last month the new Walled City of Lahore Authority met for the first time. The body oversees the ambitious plan to restore the past glory of the city's oldest neighbourhood.

Culture, ethics & architecture

2013-02-22T13:02:00-05:00

Today, many Muslim societies like Pakistan are facing enormous challenges in terms of the built environment. At times construction-related activities are driven largely by economic forces with less consideration for their impact on common people and the environment. It is also observed that sometimes, buildings are constructed while copying from other contexts without considering the local context/culture. This process has posed critical challenges.

Save the only Neutra In Pakistan

2012-04-12T15:05:00-04:00

"In 1955, the US State Department commissioned Richard Neutra to design a new embassy in Karachi. Neutra's appointment was part of an ambitious program of architectural commissions to renowned architects, which included embassies by Walter Gropius in Athens, Edward Durrell Stone in New Delhi, Marcel Breuer in The Hague, Josep Lluis Sert in Baghdad and Eero Saarinen in London."  

Neutra referred to these other buildings as “just pretty buildings” and called his design as “stripped for action”. A slightly curved stately white rectangular slab punctuated with narrow rectangular windows suitable for Karachi’s hot climate. A building which has seen a lot of activity, from International and State affairs to movie screenings, art openings and car bomb attacks in 2002 and 2006 which led to its eventual shut down to the public. It seems obvious that such a space be repurposed with the same energy it once had for local and international culture. Its demolition would not only mean the loss...

Architect of Osama bin Laden's hideout discovered the fate of his designs on Archinect!

2011-05-10T20:37:37-04:00

"To quote the unfortunate architect who claims to have been hired to design the mansion, who identifies himself as Bill - "On paper it was beautiful; a large entry court around a two story water feature, Italianate with Etruscan entablatures and friezes from the 13th Century Portuguese renaissance. The client was apparently a local farmer who made a killing on defaulting on $500 Kiva loans. I worked through a 3rd party based in Geneva who called himself Seamus. I was paid for conceptual design up front, then Seamus and my plans ran off - never to be heard from again. Later, through the grapevine on Archinect I read that my design had been obtained by a local concrete contractor in Islamabad who was hired to complete the drawings and construct the project in 3 months time for someone else; apparently the farmer decided to use some of his fortune to open a liquor store in Rosemead, CA. Anyways, fearing the worst, and wanting to salvage something for my portfolio, I tried to contact ...

Osama bin Laden's hideout revealed

2011-05-02T12:02:20-04:00

Many images from the compound reported to be the hideout of Osama bin Laden have surfaced. In addition to images of the compound, photos of portions of a helicopter have also been made available to us.