--- description: Find out why Marina Tabassum is one of the 100 most influential people of 2024. title: Marina Tabassum: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180a642bb790482d/698a558cd0753348b7e70a82/time-100-2024-marina-tabassum.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 17, 2024 # Marina Tabassum by Sarah M. Whiting  Asif Salman _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 prioritizes local cultures and values, as well as the perils faced by our shared planet. Tabassum’s altruism even extends to buildings themselves. She cares for her creations as creatures partaking in the resources of our earth: describing her Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which [won](https://the.akdn/en/how-we-work/our-agencies/aga-khan-trust-culture/akaa/bait-ur-rouf-mosque "undefined") the prestigious Aga Khan Award, she said a building “has to be able to breathe without artificial aids.” Elsewhere in the country, which faces increased flood risks due to climate change, she has [developed](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/marina-tabassum-architect-bangladesh-hnk-spc-intl/index.html "undefined") houses that are cost-effective and easy to move—clearly, buildings shouldn’t just breathe; they should avoid getting their feet wet. While she practices very locally, she teaches, lectures, and is recognized internationally, modeling architecture not as an individual signature but as a collective Esperanto. _Whiting is dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design_ _Order your copy of the 2024 TIME100 issue_ [_here_](https://magazineshop.us/TIME%5F100 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964637/marina-tabassum/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964637/marina-tabassum/"},"headline":"Marina Tabassum","datePublished":"2024-04-17T10:56:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:28:53.945Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964637/marina-tabassum/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","2024TIME100","T100Innovators2024"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180a642bb790482d/698a558cd0753348b7e70a82/time-100-2024-marina-tabassum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt180a642bb790482d/698a558cd0753348b7e70a82/time-100-2024-marina-tabassum.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964637/marina-tabassum/","name":"Marina Tabassum"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Everyone on the TIME100 2024 list","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/73p9kgIN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-04-17T11:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/73p9kgIN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964637/marina-tabassum/","duration":"PT1M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964637/marina-tabassum/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```