Pakistan’s first female architect, Yasmeen Lari, has declined Israel’s Wolf Prize in the field of architecture, over Tel Aviv’s war on Gaza.
Lari's statement regarding the prize was shared on Instagram (@barefootsocialarchitecture).
She stated that while she was "immensely grateful for this honor," she could not accept the award or prize money, even from an organisation independent of the government, given the “unfortunate continuing genocide in Gaza.”
“All violence is unacceptable to me on any side of a conflict and I’ve spent much of my life helping refugees, albeit climate migrants, and Gaza is unfortunately now one of the worst situations in terms of displacement,” she added.
The annual World Prize is an international award granted in Israel since 1978. It honours individuals who “transcend barriers of religion, gender, race, geography, and political stance”.
Awards are conferred in medicine, agriculture, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and an arts prize that rotates between architecture, music, painting and sculpture. Nomination to the Wolf Prize is by invitation only.
According to the website, “the Wolf Prize acknowledges scientists and artists worldwide for their outstanding achievements in advancing science and the arts for the betterment of humanity. By awarding the prize, we salute leaders and pioneers in these fields who have contributed to a better world”.
The prize in each field consists of a diploma, a Medal of Honor, and $100,000.
After Lari declined the award, it was awarded to Chinese architect Tiantian Xu, “for her architecture that transformed villages throughout China economically, socially, and culturally”.
Getting to know Lari
Lari was born in Pakistan in 1941 and moved to London at the age of 15 with her family. She returned to Pakistan at the age of 23 with her husband after graduating from Oxford Brooks School of Architecture.
Lari and her late husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari, set up the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan in 1980, which was instrumental in the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage.
Her work focuses on the intersection of architecture and social justice, particularly for Pakistan’s marginalised communities. She has constructed over 50,000 sustainable self-built shelters and over 80,000 ecological cooking stoves using natural materials like mud, lime, and bamboo.
She started working in bamboo in 2007, providing community kitchens to refugees of the conflict in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat and later building community centres on stilts after floods swept through the country.
In 2022, when the country was devastated by floods, she pledged to build homes sustainable and flood-proof homes.
Her work is rooted in the philosophy of “Barefoot Social Architecture,” a knowledge-sharing system that aims to move away from the model of humanitarian aid that fosters dependency, and instead help empower the communities.
In 2023, Lari was awarded the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal for her humanitarian work. In 2020, she won the Jane Drew Prize.
