Yasmeen Lari has been awarded the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, one of the world’s highest honours for architecture. Her extraordinary story sheds light on the past and present history of architecture, and also provides a guiding light forward for our profession in a heating world.

Educated in Britain she moved gradually from being a high profile corporate architect in her native Pakistan to her current work in ameliorating living conditions there for some of the poorest communities on the planet. Where does such a life-changing drive come from?