^ARCHIVES

^MATERIALS

^{COLLABORATORS}

^WORKSHOPS

^{SITE VISITS}

Fieldwork, May-Oct 2021:

Much of Sophia’s research material is based on data collected over five months of fieldwork in Karachi, Pakistan in 2021.

During this period, she visited and documented a number of listed and demolished buildings within the historic core, met with residents, academics, researchers, architects, engineers and activists, and worked alongside pioneer of 'Barefoot Social Architecture' Yasmeen Lari at The Heritage Foundation.

She worked with Yasmeen to develop video and written guides on how to build her chullah and bamboo/earth and lime homes, making construction accessible to all. She also visited Yasmeen’s extensive archive of research and historic drawings of Karachi’s colonial architecture, which Sophia used as a base for her masters project.

Through this, she gained first-hand knowledge of zero-carbon building techniques using bamboo, lime and earth, and became exposed to the most pressing unmet needs of Karachi's inhabitants. She subsequently began to grasp the types of social engagement needed to interpret an alternative future for the historic buildings and was able to devise a programme that facilitated this need. These discoveries are reflected on in the chapters of her thesis and writings.

Fieldwork blog here

Research Summary

Heritage not Inherited is a design research project spanning over two years, looking at alternative low carbon futures for heritage architecture in Pakistan. The project looks at decaying architectural heritage as an opportunity for climate change mitigation and gathers the conditions of the past and present to interpret an alternative future fashioned out of new clay that repairs and assesses the value of the built environment in Karachi - through the use of bamboo and earth to catalyse a building culture of repair, maintenance and care.

Collaborators

Yasmeen Lari,
_{Co-founder and CEO at The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan,
2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medallist}

Shaheen Nauman,
_{Researcher and Guide at Heritage Walk Karachi}

Ashfaq Ahmed,
_{Architect at The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan}

Anila Naeem,
_{Professor & Chairperson, Department of Architecture and Planning,
N.E.D. University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi}

Farhan Anwar,
_{Urban Planning Consultant at Shehri, Karachi}

Zainab Pishori,
_{Assistant Architect at The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan}

Dr Nicholas Simcik Arese,
_{Thesis Supervisor at
University of Cambridge Department of Architecture}

Aram Mooradian,
_{Design Studio Tutor at
University of Cambridge Department of Architecture}

Dr Ingrid Schroder,
_{Director of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
(previously Director of the MPhil in Architecture and Urban
Design at the University of Cambridge)}