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.

The 79-year-old now ranks among other prominent award winners including Amanda Levete, Zaha Hadid, Denise Scott Brown, and Elizabeth Diller.

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. Her famous designed buildings include the Finance and Trade Center (1983-89) and Oil House in Pakistan State (1985-91)