From 21-26 May 2022 British Council, Heritage Foundation Pakistan, INTBAU and BRAC University are bringing together a group of female students from Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UK to build two low-tech, low-carbon structures on Granary Square, King’s Cross which will highlight the central role of women in the climate revolution.

The installations will coincide with the British Council’s Pakistan-UK Season which celebrates the important links between the two countries. The celebrations in King’s Cross include a wide-ranging programme which will kick off with the students building a bamboo structure based on the design of tens of thousands of houses constructed by and for vulnerable communities in rural Pakistan. The students will use traditional techniques and natural materials to create improved living conditions and resilience to the impacts of climate change. The structure will be enclosed with textiles stitched by women of the Dumfries House Sewing Bee based in East Ayrshire, Scotland and decorated with tapestries crafted by female artisans from Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The students will also help to construct an earthen chulah, a traditional Pakistani cooking stove, alongside a group of female Pakistani artisans. This project aims to enable women to self-build for greater safety and dignity in the preparation of food.

The construction of the two structures will show a local audience that women, who are disproportionately impacted by climate change, can lead the way in the design and construction of low-tech, low-cost, low-impact sustainable solutions.

Both the bamboo structure and the chulah are based on the designs of Yasmeen Lari, known as the ‘architect for the poorest of the poor’ and internationally renowned for her humanitarian architecture.

The builds will be complemented by an interactive programme of talks, live music, poetry and food from 23 to 26 May 2022. The full programme can be viewed here.

Open discussions will focus on the intersection of gender, climate and sustainability, including a chance to talk with Yasmeen Lari, Sumayya Vally and Tumpa Fellows over a ‘chai breaker’ and to learn more about the World Habitat Award-winning chulah design.

Spoken word performances from the likes of Shamshad Khan, Anisa Butt and a presentation by contributing authors of the Camel Book Project, led by Nilofar Akmut, will also take place across the five days. The programme will also feature live performances from Sufi singer Sarah Yaseen and a set of female Pakistani DJs, including Farrah Mughal, DJ Mahnoor and DJ Nadia.

Commenting on the role of women in humanitarian and climate-smart architecture, Yasmeen Lari, Founder of Heritage Foundation Pakistan said:
“There’s a pressing need to think of low-cost, low-impact sustainable solutions drawn from heritage and vernacular traditions for climate change and to prepare those who are the most vulnerable. Through the grant from the British Council, we were able to lead a collaboration with partners in Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UK. I hope that the work at King’s Cross in London will help share knowledge around blueprints for a safer, more inclusive climate-responsive future, as well as social and ecological justice to marginalised sections.”

Commenting on the power of collaboration for climate, Parvinder Marwaha, Design Programme Manager, British Council said:
“Against the unforgiving context of climate change in South Asia, where women are amongst the worst affected, the partners have shown care to each other, their communities and their environments. Through women-led collaborations between partners in Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UK, Gender Ecologies highlights the importance and power of women in preparing for climate resilience. The project in King’s Cross offers a glimpse into a few years of this collaboration, with hopes of so much more to come with the younger generation at the forefront.”

Commenting on how global construction demands need to be met with care for people and planet at the forefront, Harriet Wennberg, Executive Director, INTBAU said:
“There is an urgent global need for more resilient, low-cost places to live – alongside an equally urgent global need to reduce the built environment’s near-40% contribution to global carbon emissions, something we know the King’s Cross estate is working hard to achieve. The world’s huge variety of local, traditional and vernacular methods of designing and building have an equal variety of solutions and ideas to offer. This programme and the structures that will be built on Granary Square show how much can be achieved through collaboration and learning from one another, and what we must do to empower next generations to take care of climate, community, people, and planet.”