Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari has declined the prestigious 2025 Wolf Prize in Architecture as a protest against the ongoing war in Gaza. She confirmed this decision on Tuesday.
The Wolf Prize, an international award presented in Israel, recognizes individuals in six fields—agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, physics, and a rotating arts prize in architecture, music, painting, and sculpture—for contributions that promote humanity and foster international harmony.
In her letter to the Wolf Foundation, Lari expressed her gratitude for the honor but explained her decision was rooted in her moral stance.
She said, “I declined the award because of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a reason I explicitly mentioned in my response. Under the current circumstances, accepting the award was inconceivable.”
Yasmeen Lari is widely known for merging architecture with social justice, prioritizing humanitarian efforts and supporting marginalized communities in Pakistan. Together with her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari, she co-founded the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan in 1980.
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Since then, she has pioneered eco-friendly construction by using natural materials like mud, lime, and bamboo, building over 50,000 sustainable shelters and 80,000 ecological cooking stoves.
