Karachi: First batch of Heritage Foundation’s Climate Volunteers programme consisting of ten students and two faculty members of Vienna University of Technology led by Prof Andrea Rieger-jail and nine students and three faculty members of University of Lahore led by prof. Zeeshan left for their respective homes earlier today after successfully spending 12 days together and getting first-hand experience of life of flood victims of Sindh’s Puno Village, Mirpurkhas as well as facilitating their rehabilitation.

Programme was initiated by Yasmeen Lari, founder and CEO of Heritage Foundation Pakistan at Cambridge in October at an assembly of various universities from UK and Europe organised jointly with INTBAU and Department of Architecture University of Cambridge.

Andrea Rieger-janol said, “Last couple of weeks have been an eye-opening experience for us. We spent three days in Lahore where we stayed at campus and did workshop with Lahore students. It was great bonding opportunity as later we stayed together in village, and it was wonderful that we had become familiar with one another by that time.”

Staying in ‘lodges’, which are essentially Lari-Octagreen homes-zero-carbon bamboo and mud shelters that have been designed by Professor Yasmeen Lari and which one can now see in many villages of Sindh, including Puno Village. UOL Syeda Komal Fatima said, “Even though we are Pakistanis from Punjab, experience of staying in village and working with local artisans is unique one for all of us.”

First group concentrated on designing accessories for shelters to make them better equipped for their inhabitants. Second group observed, documented and experimented with construction process of building school beginning from site selection right up to its creation.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 11 2022

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