Pakistan: Dr. Lari Yasmeen
Born in 1941 in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan, Dr. Lari Yasmeen is considered the first professional woman architect in Pakistan. She was also the first chairperson of the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners (1983–1986); a co-founder, with her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari, of the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan (1980), which earned the UN Recognition Award (2002); and a co-founder and principal architect of Lari Associates, an architectural firm in Karachi, Pakistan (1964). She is an elected member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1969).
Dr. Yasmeen graduated with a diploma in architecture from the School of Architecture at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England (c. 1964), and received an honorary doctorate in architecture from Politecnico di Milano (2021) and an honorary doctorate in design from Oxford Brookes University (2023). Dr. Yasmeen served as president of the Institute of Architects Pakistan (c. 1980–1983), as chair and CEO of Heritage Foundation Pakistan (1980–), and as a UNESCO National Advisor (2003–2005). She was also appointed the Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professor for Sustainable Design at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England (2022–2023). Dr. Yasmeen has contributed to the following publications: Traditional Architecture of Thatta (1989), The Dual City: Karachi During the Raj (1996), The Jewel of Sindh: Samma Monuments on Makli Hills (1997), Karachi: Illustrated City Guide (2001), Lahore: Illustrated City Guide (2003), Governor’s House Lahore (2010), Sepulchre of Mirza Jan Baba: Father of Isa Tarkhan the Second (2017), and The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability from the Sharjah Architecture Triennial (2025).
Dr. Yasmeen earned the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA, 2023). She has also received a Jane Drew Prize (2020), a World Habitat Award (2018), a Fukuoka Prize for Arts and Culture (2016), the Islamic Development Bank Prize for Women’s Empowerment (2013), the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (The Crescent of Distinction) award (2014), and the Sitara-e-Imtiaz (The Star of Distrinction) award (2006) from the government of Pakistan.
References
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