{"id":632,"date":"2023-10-11T08:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T08:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smalldivine.com\/?p=632"},"modified":"2023-10-11T12:44:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T12:44:20","slug":"riba-royal-gold-medal-award-was-brave-move-says-yasmeen-lari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/smalldivine.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/11\/riba-royal-gold-medal-award-was-brave-move-says-yasmeen-lari\/","title":{"rendered":"RIBA Royal Gold Medal award was “brave move” says Yasmeen Lari"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dezeen<\/div>\n

Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari<\/a> has said the RIBA<\/a> was “brave” to award her\u00a0the Royal Gold Medal<\/a> earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Royal Institute of British Architects<\/a>‘ Royal Gold Medal is the UK<\/a>‘s highest individual honour for architecture and is personally approved by the British monarch, King Charles III<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In her keynote address at the recent In Focus: Radical Repair<\/a> conference hosted in Milan by The World Around<\/a> and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain<\/a>, Lari suggested that the decision to make her the medal’s 2023 laureate was an endorsement of her\u00a0low-cost, low-carbon, humanitarian approach.<\/p>\n

Medal award “sent a powerful message”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“By bestowing the great honour of the Royal Gold Medal on my work in a brave move, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the prize committee and the British monarch have legitimised the path for architects to serve those who live on the borders,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They have sent a powerful message that architects do not any longer need to vie for the attention of the privileged and the wealthy, but equally be ready to serve humanity.”<\/p>\n

Lari spent much of her career designing big-budget buildings, such as the Pakistan State Oil head office in Karachi, before retiring in 2000 to focus instead on projects aimed at alleviating poverty and protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

In its award citation, the medal’s selection committee specified that its choice of Lari<\/a> particularly celebrated “the work she has undertaken since her retirement in 2000”.<\/p>\n

\"Mud
Lari’s work now focuses on low-cost, low-carbon projects for marginalised communities in Pakistan. Photo courtesy of the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The time has come for a majority of architects and other built-environment professionals to play a significant role in healing the planet,” Lari told the conference.<\/p>\n

“On the one hand that requires that we lower the carbon footprint in all that we create, and on the other to reach out to serve the vast number of disadvantaged populations,” she added.<\/p>\n

“The more meagre the resources, the more attention is needed to create well-designed environments.”<\/p>\n