Bangladesh's Marina Tabassum on TIME's 100 most influential people list

Bangladesh’s Marina Tabassum made it to the list of 100 influential people of the world made by renowned American magazine TIME. She is an architect.

TIME published this list of 100 most influential people of 2024 yesterday, Wednesday. Marina Tabassum has been featured on the list under the ‘Innovators’ category.

Alongside her, there are many familiar faces including Russia’s Yulia Navalnaya, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk among the influential people on the list.

Indian film actress Alia Bhatt has also been featured on this list under the artists category.

TIME wrote about Marina Tabassum, “Altruism isn’t typically a term attributed to award-winning architects—a profession where signature has become a common adjective—but Marina Tabassum isn’t typical. She has developed a practice and a way of being that prioritises local cultures and values, as well as the perils faced by our shared planet.”

Bangladesh is one of the countries that are most at risk of climate change. TIME wrote, in Bangladesh, which faces increased flood risks due to climate change Marina Tabassum has developed houses that are cost-effective and easy to move.

This is not the first international recognition for architecture Marina Tabassum. She was awarded UK’s prestigious Soane Medal in 2021 in recognition of her ‘architecture of relevance’.

Besides, she was featured among the top 10 on British magazine Prospect’s list of 50 thinkers in 2020. She was ranked third among the top ten.

Meanwhile, she received the Jameel Prize in 2018 as the architect of an artistic mosque named Bait Ur Rauf in Dakshinkhan, Dhaka. Earlier in 2016, she received the prestigious Aga Khan Award for the same design. This mosque, designed in the architectural style of the Sultanate period was built in Dhaka in 2012.