Renowned Architect Habib Fida Ali passes away

KARACHI: Renowned architect Habib Fida Ali passed away on Saturday. He was 81.

His last rites were performed at 12 noon at the Bohra Qabristan in Karachi.

According to series of messages on Twitter, Fida Ali was recuperating from a surgery in December.

Born in Karachi, he attended the St. Patricks School before joining Aitchison College Lahore in 1952. He then became the first Pakistani student to be admitted to the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, from where he graduated in 1962.

On his return to Pakistan he started his own practice.

Some of his best works include restoration of the Mohatta Palace, campus of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National Bank of Pakistan and the award winning Shell House.

In an interview he gave to Newsline magazine, Fida Ali said, ““When working on the Shell House, I was often asked, ‘Habib sahib, when will you paint it, when will you plaster it?’ And I would say, ‘It will remain like this, the very first concrete building in Pakistan.’ I set a trend there.”

In 1976, KDA eventually awarded him a gold medal for it.

Karachi has lost its finest architect. He will be missed.

 
Shell House, Karachi

Mohatta Palace, Karachi

Memon Medical Institute, Karachi

Lahore University of Management Science, Lahore