CAA 2024 Awards Showcase: The Lifetime Achievement Award – Prof. Yasmeen Lari

5 June 2025. Lecture and conversation with Pakistan’s first female architect, Prof. Yasmeen Lari in which she discusses her work and the challenges facing architecture in a time of climate crisis.

Session Objective & Outline

This Season of the CAA’s CPD programme continues to celebrate award-winning projects and individuals from the 2024 CAA General Assembly held in August this year in Kigali, Rwanda. The objective of this showcase season is to serve both as a celebration of the individuals and projects from the awards programme as well as to provide a forum for thought-provoking conversations through real-life ‘concrete’ case-studies of projects and individual designers and students who push boundaries to deliver thought-provoking propositions addressing the climate and urban challenges of our age.

 

Outline

 

Learning Outcomes

Lessons Learnt

The learning outcomes for this session were:

  1. Be introduced to how architecture can be a vehicle to support social change within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals through a series of case study projects in Prof. Lari’s work through the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan and Barefoot Social Architecture.
  2. Understand how architecture can be a powerful tool for addressing the pressing issues of climate change and injustices around the world, as exemplified through Prof. Lari’s architectural philosophy of ‘decarbonise, democratise, decolonise.’
  3. Be introduced to the concept of ‘social architecture’ and explore what that means in the context of designing and building in the age of climate crisis.

 

RIBA Core Curriculum Topics

  • Inclusive Environments
  • Architecture for Social Purpose

 

SDG Learning Outcomes

  • SDG5 – Gender Equality
  • SDG10 – Reducing Inequalities
  • SDG11 – Sustainable Cities & Communities

CPD Learning Questions

The following CPD questions forms part of the learning guide for this session. As different Institutions of Architecture across the Commonwealth have different CPD reporting requirements, it is suggested that you retain a copy of your responses to these questions for your records.

  1. What was the key takeaway message you learnt from this CPD Session?
  2. Following today’s CPD Session, what does the term ‘Social Impact’ mean for you in the context of architecture and design? Has today’s CPD session changed your idea of what this term means?
  3. In today’s session, we were able to gain insight from both the architect and the client’s perspectives on a project. In your opinion, what do you see as the value of a client-architect collaboration? Do you think this helped to make Calling Academy Stellenbosch a success? Why/Why Not?
  4. What is a key idea, construction technique or design method that you learned from today’s CPD session that you feel you can apply to a project you are working on in your home country or practice environment?
  5. What do you see as a key challenge in your home country or practice environment which is preventing further progress towards ecologically sustainable development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

 

Presenters

Professor Yasmeen Lari

Prof. Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan’s first female architect and a pioneering figure in humanitarian architecture and sustainable development. Born in 1941, she established her practice in Karachi in 1964 and designed numerous landmark buildings including the Pakistan State Oil House, the Finance and Trade Centre, and the Anguri Bagh housing project. In 2000, she shifted her focus from commercial architecture to humanitarian work, founding the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan with her husband Suhail Zaheer Lari. Following the devastating 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods in Pakistan, she developed innovative low-cost, zero-carbon shelter solutions using traditional materials like bamboo, lime, and mud, training thousands of rural women and disaster-affected communities to build their own homes and infrastructure. Her work emphasizes barefoot social architecture—empowering marginalized communities through participatory design and local craftsmanship. Lari has received numerous international accolades, including the prestigious Jane Drew Prize, the Fukuoka Prize, and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2023, recognizing her transformative contributions to sustainable architecture and social justice. Now in her eighties, she continues to advocate for climate-resilient, people-centered design that addresses the urgent needs of vulnerable populations.

Prof. Yasmeen Lari
Hugo Chan

Hugo Chan (Session Moderator)

Hugo Chan is the Director and Chartered Architect of StudioHC, combining expertise in architecture (B.ArchSt. 2013, M.Arch 2015 UNSW) and environmental law (DipGradEnvLaws 2020 USyd) to drive research focused on ecological and cultural sustainability in urban environments. Since 2016, he has served as a sessional academic at UNSW Built Environment and the University of Sydney, teaching history, theory, and urban renewal while supervising Honours theses. His research practice has earned significant recognition through prestigious grants including the 2017 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship and the Alastair Swayn Foundation’s Strategic Research Grant, resulting in published works such as “Hope in High-Rise” and “Architecture & Belonging.” Beyond academia, Hugo is actively engaged with the Australian Institute of Architects as the EmAGN representative on the National Heritage Committee and serves as Youth Representative on the Council of the Commonwealth Association of Architects (2024-2026). His multifaceted contributions across practice, research, teaching, and community activism led to his recognition by Australian Design Review as one of the 30Under30 Architects and Innovators of the Built Environment for 2023-24.

Hugo Chan

Additional Learning Resources

To discover more about this project, please feel free to refer to these additional learning resources:

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