Lara Pinho

Lara Pinho is an architect who seeks to respond to global humanitarian issues using sustainable solutions, traditional construction and local materials through teaching, research and practice.

She studied at the Faculdade de Arquitectura - Universidade de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal) and École Nationale Superieure d’Architecture Paris-Belleville (Paris, France) and has lived in South Africa, Portugal, France and the Netherlands.

Lara began to focus on social impact design after winning the international Open Source House Competition with the project, Emerging Ghana, an eco-affordable housing design for the emerging middle class of Ghana.

Now at UWA's School of Design, her work is focused on the area of sustainable and humanitarian architecture linked to the use of each location’s local materials and vernacular construction techniques, using them as a means to teach communities new, sustainable building skills.

Lara is currently working on the potential of design-research methods to add value to recycled plastics. She is using recycled synthetic plastics in the design and development of architectural products and investigating how these products can positively impact underserved communities that are directly affected by global plastic waste.

Lara is also the co-founder and Principal Architect at blaanc borderless architecture and co-founded the non-profit Adobe for Women Association.

Qualifications:

• Grad.Dip.Arch. University of Lisbon
• Reg. Arch. n. 16177 Ordem dos Arquitectos (OA)