Octogenarian architect works to keep Pakistan flood-proof

An 82-year-old renowned architect, behind some of Karachi's most remarkable buildings, such as the headquarters of the national oil company PSO, Yasmeen Lari now prefers to put her know-how at the service of the most vulnerable.

The raised bamboo 'pilot' houses she developed have saved families from record monsoon floods in the summer of 2022. A third of the country was drowned, displacing eight million people in all the countries.

With his foundation, the octogenarian, whose work has just been awarded the gold medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, hopes to extend the project to one million houses built by local communities in the most remote areas of the country.

"I had to find the solution, or find a way to empower people so they could fend for themselves, rather than waiting for outside help. I don't believe in charity," Ms. Lari, trained in the UK.

Poverty-stricken Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world, is responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but is one of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by the global warming.

Millions of homes have been destroyed in successive natural disasters in recent years, from the 2005 earthquake to the 2010 floods.

traditional houses

Scientists say monsoons have become more abundant and unpredictable with climate change, for which the country is ill-prepared.

In the village of Pono Colony, about 200 kilometers from Karachi, the hundred pilot houses built before the exceptional floods of last summer have already proved their worth.

The raised structure on which the houses rest allows water to rush under the floor thanks to bamboos anchored deep in the ground which resist the pressure.

Known locally as 'chanwara', these spherical mud huts are an upgraded version of the traditional one-piece houses that dot the landscapes of Pakistan's southern Sindh province and India's Rajasthan. .

They only require locally available materials: lime, clay, bamboo and thatch. After fairly simple training, they can be assembled by families at a cost of around $170 and easily moved.

"You can't go with an oversized ego into a poor community and say, 'I know what to do and I'll tell you what to do'", comments the architect, who used of his experience.

The henhouse

During a project on the construction of social housing in Lahore (east) in the 1970s, the women of the district, leaning on its plans, had wondered where the hens were going to live, she recalls.

"These hens have remained engraved in my memory. The needs of women are really at the center of my concerns when I design projects", she insists.

Today, it is no longer the chicken coop that is the focus, but the layout of the traditional stoves, which have been placed high up and equipped with a chimney to evacuate the smoke.

“Before, the stove was on the floor, which was very unhygienic. Small children burned themselves with the flames, stray dogs licked the pans and germs spread,” says Champa Kanji, trained by the team. Mrs. Lari building stoves for homes in Sindh.

"Seeing women become independent and have the means to do things gives me a lot of pleasure", underlines the architect.

In rural areas of this province, tens of thousands of people are still displaced and large agricultural areas remain submerged in stagnant water, nearly a year after the floods.

In January, international donors pledged more than $9 billion to repair the damage done, but only a fraction of the money has been received, as Pakistan is plunged into a serious economic and political crisis.