Yasmeen Lari Architecture for the Future, curated by Angelika Fitz, Elke Krasny, and Marvi Mazhar,
Yasmeen Lari Architecture for the Future
Exhibition at Architekturzentrum Wien —
09.03.2023 – 16.08.2023
Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan’s first woman architect. She designed iconic modernist buildings before initiating a zero-carbon self-build movement for climate refugees and the landless. This exhibition uses Lari’s oeuvre as an example to show how the relationship of architecture to the future has changed
Over the past two decades, she has developed and implemented her system of zero-carbon architecture based on local economies, on innovating traditional building techniques, using the climate-neutral materials of bamboo, lime, and mud, as well as providing training in self-building and women-centered ways of working. Together with climate refugees and the landless, Lari has built tens of thousands of flood- and earthquake-resistant houses, sanitation infrastructure, smokeless stoves, and community facilities.
Modern architecture was based on the claim to build a better future—today we are living with the consequences: extreme weather events, fossil fuel dependence, and destruction on a planetary scale. Architecture is challenged to become co-responsible and not to give up working towards ecological justice. Yasmeen Lari’s credo for an architecture for the future: “We must tread lightly on the planet.”
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Curators: Angelika Fitz, Elke Krasny, and Marvi Mazhar
Scenography: Alexandra Maringer
Graphic design: Alexander Ach Schuh
Project coordination: Agnes Wyskitensky
