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 Zakaria

edited by Angelika Fitz, Elke Krasny, Marvi Mazhar, and Architekturzentrum Wien

Introduction 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