Lectures
Paul Rudolph Lecture
Yasmeen Lari
Architect for the Poorest of the Poor, Yasmeen Lari is an architectural historian, a conservationist and a philanthropist. Her journey from international modernism for the elite to zero-carbon architecture for the masses was rewarded in 2023 with RIBA’s Royal Gold Medal in architecture. Her other awards include Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Hilal, Fukuoka Prize, Jane Drew Prize, Jose Rizal Award and CAA Lifetime Achievement Award.
A graduate of Oxford Brookes University, she began her practice in 1964. In 1980, She co-founded Heritage Foundation of Pakistan with her husband, noted historian Suhail Zaheer Lari, to safeguard Pakistan’s tangible, intangible and vernacular heritage. Her Barefoot Social Architecture (BASA) and Humanistic Humanitarianism are designed to foster spatial socio-ecological justice for marginalized and vulnerable communities.
Lari has received honorary doctorates from Politecnico Di Milano and Oxford Brookes University.
She was appointed Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professor for Sustainable Design (2022-23) at the University of Cambridge, and has been elected honorary fellow of Jesus College.