DESIGNING A CLIMATE PROSTHETIC

Abstract

Lahore, ranked consistently among the world's most polluted cities, faces an accelerating environmental crisis driven by hazardous air quality, rising urban heat, declining green cover, and the near-total absence of ecologically active public infrastructure. PM2.5 concentrations regularly exceed WHO safe limits by twelve to twenty-five times, while the urban heat island effect raises local temperatures three to five degrees Celsius above surrounding areas. Despite the scale of this crisis, architecture in Lahore continues to function as a passive built object, consuming environmental resources rather than contributing to ecological repair. This thesis proposes an Environmental Regeneration Hub at Bab-e-Pakistan, Lahore — a site of immense historical significance that currently remains ecologically inactive and environmentally underperforming. Through an adaptive reuse strategy, the proposal transforms the existing octagonal structure into an integrated ecological infrastructure combining an EPA research laboratory, a seed bank, an experiential greenhouse, Miyawaki urban forestry, and a central Voronoi titanium dioxide tower.