Zero-carbon
cultural centre
Makli
2015-19
The Heritage
Foundation of
Pakistan, spearheaded
by Lari, is helping to
conserve Makli, a
necropolis of
breathtaking funerary
monuments in Sindh
province. Located
nearby, this zero-
carbon campus
showcases a selection
of Lari's designs forthe poorest in society,
including chulahs,
bamboo shelters and
water pumps. This is
part of Lari's vision for
the sustainable
conservation of
Pakistan's heritage
sites, ensuring that
local people are better
equipped to protect
and care for their local
historic monuments.participatory approach in this work unlike
other architectural works', Lari insists.
Marginalised communities are taught how
to take charge of their lives and make
low-cost, quality products for themselves
and others. Awards and prizes along with
grants and donations collected by friends
fund the operations. I t helps that Heritage
Foundation board members and Lari herself
provide services pro bono.
Earlier this year Lari organised eight
mendicant villages near ~1:akli into ·what she
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1 chulahs oOO
2 reception
3 field office 0 ~
4 World Habitat centre 0 I o o I ~
5 cultural centre I u u I 1
6 store I I I I o a I I
7 hand pump 0
8 workshop office 00
9 guesthouse
calls a barefoot ecosystem. With the help
of British Council funding they have been
trained as specialists in different kinds
of b arefoot products for the marginalised
sections, so regenerating the local economy.
While one village is dealing in prefab
bamboo structures, one is concentrating on
roof thatching, one on lime and mud bricks,
and one on terracotta and tile work. People
are also taught to make hygiene products
such as cheap, natural soaps and shampoos
to make t hem self-sufficient. A rights-based,
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holistic model, with the poor helping other
poor, t he work aims to achieve the UN's
Sustainable Development Goals, especially
goal number one: No Poverty.
The participative approach of barefoot
social architecture contrasts with Western
charity models which, in spite of good
intentions, fail to provide succour to target
populations, due to their unsustainable
siloed approach that treats people as
helpless victims who should be happy with
handouts. \ Vhile governments and aid