Women in Limelight

Pakistan’s first ever female architect wins the Jane Drew Award

Yasmeen Lari becomes Pakistan’s first ever female architect, who has been awarded the prestigious Jane Drew award 2020 for contributing her work to raise women’s profile in design and architecture.

The prize is named after Jane Drew, an advocate for women in a male-dominated profession. The previous award winners were Odile Decq, Grafton Architects’ founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, Kathryn Findlay of Ushida Findlay and Eva Jiřičná.

Yasmeen Lari is well-known and respected for the design of landmark buildings in Karachi, where she established her own practice after graduating from the architecture school of Oxford Brookes in 1964.

Some of her works include commercial buildings in Karachi like the Finance and Trade Centre, the Pakistan State Oil House, the Anguri Bagh housing project in Lahore, and the Lines Area Resettlement self-built housing complex.