nyami studio and jack rankin complete juliet center
In the flood-prone region of Sindh, Pakistan, the Juliet Center anchors a prototype development for resilient, community-driven architecture led by Yasmeen Lari. Within the Pono Village, conceived by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan following the devastating floods of 2022, this new vaulted bamboo pavilion creates a flexible, open space to empower locals. The project has thus been completed by Nyami Studio and Jack Rankin with a social focus, responding directly to the environmental and economic vulnerabilities of the region.
Built with traditionally low cost and eco-friendly materials including bamboo, mud, lime, and thatch, the Juliet Center is shaped as a vaulted structure that recalls the domed forms familiar in the region, translating them into a lightweight, sinuous silhouette. Within its open form, the modular pavilion is intended to host spontaneous community gatherings while providing a space for educational workshops, upskilling locals in sustainable building techniques. It supports Lari’s wider mission of empowering populations through sustainable, culturally rooted design.
all images courtesy of Nyami Studio
a vaulted bamboo pavilion for community empowerment
Following the devastating floods of 2022, the Pono Village was developed as an experimental zero-carbon settlement — an extension of Yasmeen Lari’s exploration of sustainable shelters for marginalized communities who have been displaced by such disasters that have continued to sweep through Sindh. For the Juliet Center too, Lari commissioned London-based Nyami Studio and designer Jack Rankin to create a new focal point for the community, taking into consideration structural longevity and long-term civic empowerment — particularly for women, who are here trained in construction and craftsmanship to support their livelihoods. ‘At the heart of the project was a commitment to creating positive social impact,’ notes Rankin. ‘To support this, we designed a flexible, open-plan space that could serve both the local community and the Heritage Foundation, providing a setting for workshops, talks, and social gatherings.’
The structure consists of two modular vaults arranged on a hexagonal grid, spanning widely to open up to the village without the need for internal columns. Though the space maintains a basic open plan, it remains deliberately flexible for future expansions or replication in other settlements.‘It is for the community to inhabit, adapt, and use in ways that suit their daily lives,’ the designer adds.
For the construction process, Nyami Studio and Jack Rankin ensured to continue the Heritage Foundation’s commitment to preserving and promoting culturally rooted building practices, fusing this with digital design precision to work with the extreme climate, and achieve complex geometries and durability.‘With no locally available methods for steaming or heating bamboo, we bent it by notching and shaping it into formwork,’ Rankin shares. Shaping these elements according to pre-calculating angles while integrating local techniques, the formwork was adjusted through trial, error, and close collaboration between the design team and villagers. For the finishing, floors are layered with 10,000 hand-made mud tiles fired in neighboring villages, and a durable, woven thatch roof made of grass harvested locally, offers protection from the extreme heat and rains. Structurally, the design utilizes 2-3′ bamboo members which allows for faster material procurement without compromising on spanning capacity or stability.
While the building was still awaiting the completion of a perimeter of tiled steps and a retractable fabric facade when Jack Rankin and Neil Palmer, co-founder of Nyami Studio, departed Pakistan, it had already been embraced by the community. Children turned the Juliet Center into a playground, and adults gathered for afternoon tea, filling the space with life before the final finishes were even implemented.
