New Currents: Yasmeen Lari and Marina Tabassum

Architects Marina Tabassum and Yasmeen Lari explain how their humanistic, holistic and activist approaches interact with marginalised communities facing climate, conflict and flood risks. In Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively, they are pioneering new typologies that have yet to be defined in contemporary architecture.

Yasmeen Lari
Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan’s first female architect and ‘architect for the poorest’. Her work on affordable, sustainable, zero-carbon housing and disaster-resilient buildings for marginalised communities is groundbreaking. Her ‘barefoot social architecture’ programme aims to create a zero-donor model to lift poor communities out of the poverty trap. She co-founded the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which researches and preserves the country’s architectural heritage. In 2023, she received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for her humanitarian work.

Marina Tabassum
Marina Tabassum is an architect and professor at Delft University of Technology. She founded Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) in Dhaka, in 2005. She strives to create an architectural language that is both contemporary and strongly connected to the place, taking into account nature, climate, culture, history and the environment. Her quest for ‘architecture of relevance’ has won her several international awards.

Language: English | Location: Nieuwe Instituut | Tickets: Free

Programme

19:00 Doors open
19:25 Welcome by the Nieuwe Instituut
19:30 Marina Tabassum: Architecture of Transition
20:00 Yasmeen Lari: The Global South Lens: Decolonise, Decarbonise, Democratise Architecture & Urbanism
20:30 Discussion and Q&A with the audience, moderated by Parvinder Marwaha
21:00 Closing remarks