Yasmeen Lari: Empowering Women and Protecting the Environment through Sustainable Design

In South Asia, women have long been the caretakers of their families, communities, and the planet. However, traditional cooking methods, such as open flame and wood-burning floor stoves, expose them to burns, fires, and respiratory issues. These methods also result in environmental hazards like air Pollution and high fossil fuel consumption. Yasmeen Lari, a renowned Pakistani architect, has designed a solution: the Pakistani Chulah.

Source: The Architectural Review/Youtube

The Pakistani Chulah is a smokeless, low-cost mud-and-lime-plaster stove that protects both women and the environment. By elevating the stove on a mudbrick platform, Lari’s design offers a more hygienic and ventilated workstation, also protecting it from flooding. The stove uses half the amount of fuel typically needed and can run on clean-burning agricultural waste like dung and sawdust bricks. This reduces women’s time spent sourcing logs, prioritizing their comfort, and promoting a smaller carbon footprint.

This eco-friendly design is part of Lari’s Barefoot Architecture Project, which empowers nonliterate women to build stoves using natural materials and indigenous practices. By harnessing local know-how and training, Lari’s project provides women with a sustainable income source and supports gender-responsive economies.

Lari’s humanitarian work extends beyond the Pakistani Chulah. She designs essential infrastructure that caters to women’s social, emotional, and biological needs, including shelter, clean water, safe toilets, healthy cooking facilities, and community spaces. In doing so, Lari challenges traditional ideas of public space for Pakistani women while maintaining cultural sensitivity.

Her work can be labeled “ecofeminist” for addressing the needs of both women and the planet simultaneously. Ecofeminist analysis explores the parallels between women and nature across various aspects of society. By combining feminism and environmentalism, ecofeminism promotes respect for women and the environment.

In Pakistan, one of the top ten climate-impacted countries, Lari’s work empowers the population to build flood-resistant and climate-friendly housing using cost-effective and ecological local construction techniques. Through her Heritage Foundation and Zero Carbon Cultural Centre, women are trained to make bricks, chulahs, and houses, while also learning traditional craft techniques, like creating eco-friendly ceramic tiles.

Yasmeen Lari’s architecture is an act of care for both the planet and the lives of Pakistani women. She sets a precedent for architects and activists to learn from and encourages them to solve pressing social issues with their design skills. Let’s all take inspiration from Yasmeen Lari and consider how we can use our unique abilities to Support a more sustainable and inclusive world. The time for change is now!

Solution Not Pollution Sweatshirt by Tiny Rescue: Climate Collection

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