A former starchitect (明星建筑师) who designed villas for Pakistan’s celebrities now rebuilds villages completely destroyed by natural disasters.
October 2005, a catastrophic earthquake claiming some 79, 000 people in Pakistan reduced the villages to ruins in mud. Yasmeen Lari, a then-65-year-old architect was there to help lead the reconstruction of settlements. Working with volunteer architects and engineers from Pakistan and abroad, she started drawing plans for earthquake-resistant homes.
Over the following decades, Lari designed various houses and devices inside. Lari’s shelters, inspired by traditional designs and made with sustainable materials such as bamboo, mud and lime (石灰) that are sourced locally first, can better withstand disasters. Bamboo homes on stilts (柱子) allow water to flow through, while cross-bracing (交叉支撑) provides strength and flexibility during earthquakes. Lari’s insistence on low-cost, zero-waste and zero-carbon buildings reflects her commitment to the planet.
This sustainable inspiration has fuelled many of Lari’s designs, which now include household innovations. For instance, more than 80, 000 of her well-received limecrete and smokeless cookstoves were built. The device, which won a UN World Habitat Prize in 2018, costs about E8 to make and is fuelled with agricultural waste. The stoves stand higher than flood levels, making them safer than smoky, open cooking fires on the ground.
Now at age 83, Lari is still fizzing with ideas about zero-carbon designs, skills building and self-sustaining villages.
【小题1】Which can best describe Yasmeen Lari?| A．Insistent and conventional. | B．Productive and stubborn. |
| C．Innovative and committed. | D．Economical and academic. |
| A．They accommodate homeless villagers. | B．They are all made of local materials. |
| C．They follow traditional designs. | D．They are resistant to earthquakes. |
| A．It costs a lot. | B．It generates smoke. |
| C．It gains popularity. | D．It burns animal waste. |
| A．From architect to humanitarian | B．The greatest architect ever |
| C．Rebuilding destroyed villages | D．Designing household devices |
