Lutfia Larnaut (also spelt ‘El Arnaut’ or ‘al-Arnaout’) was born 1943 in Tripoli, Libya, where she received her early education at the Jama’ al-Maghareba Primary School and then at the Tripoli Secondary School for Girls. She later enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tripoli, graduating in 1966 alongside classmate Najia Al-Sayedas as one of the two first Libyan women to earn a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. From 1966-1967, Larnaut remained in Libya and worked for the Ministry of Planning and Development. Due to the absence of architectural training courses in Libya (the University of Tripoli’s Architecture & Urban Planning department only opened in 1969–1970), Larnaut subsequently pursued postgraduate studies at the Architectural Association’s Department of Development and Tropical Studies in 1968–1969, where she undertook the General Design Course. After graduating from the AA, she immediately returned to Libya to work in the Design Department of the Ministry of Public Works. By the early 1970s, she was evidently involved at a high-level in efforts to modernise Libya’s building industry, being tasked to coordinate foreign consultants to formulate new national building codes. She then moved to the newly formed Ministry of Housing where she led an industrial housing program, overseeing the launch of prefabricated housing factories in Tripoli and Benghazi aimed at delivering 35,000 and 25,000 housing units in each city respectively. Larnaut left Libya between 1975-1992, her departure coinciding with and likely motivated by the fallout of the 1975 failed coup that led to a purge and centralization of power in Libya’s government, bringing about a period of extreme state repression that made state-run planning agencies far more politicized. While her period abroad is not fully documented, she reportedly moved to Syria where she worked for an engineering consultancy in the city of Latakia from 1979-1992. After 17 years abroad, Larnaut returned to Libya in 1992 and resumed her work in the public sector. In 1994, she was appointed to the technical design office within Libya’s National Consulting Bureau. She served in this office, headed at the time by Ali Al-Shaibani, for about a decade between 1994-2004. Around 2004, at her request, Larnaut transferred to the Design Department of the Ministry of Public Works and Utilities. While continuing to work on public project designs and technical oversight, this move placed her in a larger department handling a broad range of infrastructure and architectural projects. Across five decades in public works and housing, Larnaut helped Libya’s post‑independence building sector transition from ad‑hoc projects to codified standards, while pioneering a pathway for women engineers in the country.
Sources:
- Architectural Association Student Register, 1968-69. AA Archives
- Langhi, Zahra’. “Women in Libya.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. Accessed August 4, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.533
- LinkedIn. “Lutfia Larnauti – Consultant Civil Engineer.” LinkedIn. n.d. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://ly.linkedin.com/in/lutfia-larnauti-85244545
- Archilovers. “lutfia larnautil – Engineer Tripoli / Libya.” Archilovers. n.d. Accessed September 2, 2025. https://www.archilovers.com/lutfia-larnautil/
- Jeje (page author). “أوائل المهندسات العربيات – الجزء (4) [First Arab Women Engineers – Part 4].” Facebook. n.d. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=310844162293432&story_fbid=2131978153513348
- Lajnat al‑Muhandisāt al‑Lībiyyāt (Libyan Women Engineers Committee). “أول مهندستين ليبيتين… م. لطفية الأرناؤوط. [The First Two Libyan Women Engineers… Eng. Lutfia al‑Arnaout].” Facebook. n.d. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/100064529298783/posts/988424329985201/
- Tripoli heritage Facebook group. “عندك علم من صمم مبنى دار الافتاء الأول…؟ [Do You Know Who Designed the First Dār al‑Iftāʾ Building…?].” Facebook Groups. n.d. Accessed August 18, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/groups/286301784775247/posts/30563015926677101/
- Saeed, Nour al‑Din. “لطفية الأرناؤوط — مبنى دار الإفتاء (نص من ذاكرتي) [Lutfia al‑Arnaout — The Dār al‑Iftāʾ Building (From Memory)].” Ṭayoub (Tieob) — Characters. May 1, 2023. Accessed September 9, 2025. https://tieob.com/archives/category/%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/page/17
