Pakistan's flood-hit homes get green, disaster-resilient redesign

What’s the context?

As Pakistan tries to rebuild better after devastating floods, cheap, natural and easy-to-construct homes may be one answer

• Pakistan still recovering from unprecedented 2022 flooding
• Architect Yasmeen Lari champions sustainable, green homes
• Many organisations still view concrete houses as best bet

In flood-hit southeastern Pakistan, villagers are trading tents and tarpaulins provided by aid agencies for local materials such as lime, mud and bamboo to build their own low-cost and water-resistant homes as part of a post-disaster recovery rethink.

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While traditional mud huts are vulnerable to extreme weather and building concrete homes is expensive and high in carbon emissions, Lari's houses were devised to be disaster-resilient, environmentally friendly, and quicker and easier to erect.

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Lari used to design modern, glitzy buildings - from hotels and offices to government headquarters - made from concrete, glass and steel, but turned to sustainable relief architecture in 2005 after a earthquake devastated much of Kashmir.

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