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 at Granary Square, Kings Cross. The installation will coincide with the British Council’s Pakistan-UK Season in a wide-ranging programme seeking to highlight the central role of women in the climate revolution.

A group of female students from Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UK will build a bamboo structure on Granary Square from 21-23 May 2022. The structure will be enclosed with textiles stitched by the Dumfries House Sewing Bee based in East Ayrshire, Scotland, and decorated with tapestries crafted by female artisans from Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Students will also help to construct an earthen chulah, a traditional Pakistani cooking stove, with a group of female Pakistani artisans. Both structures are based on the low-tech, low-carbon designs of Yasmeen Lari, known as the ‘architect for the poorest of the poor’, internationally renowned for her humanitarian architecture.

The build will be complemented by an interactive programme of talks, live music, poetry and food from 23to 26 May 2022. The full programme can be viewed on the British Council’s website here and the programme 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.

Look out for 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. 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.