Lina Ghotmeh on Designing Museums as Stages for Debate and Repair
Lina Ghotmeh, an architect originally from Lebanon, established her Paris-based firm in 2016 and has since landed significant projects such as the Western Range galleries at the British Museum and Qatar’s national pavilion at the Venice Giardini della Biennale, marking the first permanent addition by a female architect in three decades. Her impressive body of work features the Estonian National Museum, the 2023 Serpentine Pavilion, a workshop for Hermès, and the Bahrain Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka. Ghotmeh, who perceives architecture as a form of archaeology that fosters cultural exchange, is currently converting a house in Uzbekistan into the Jadids’ Legacy Museum and has taught at Yale and the University of Toronto. Her designs prioritize sustainability, including the energy-positive Hermès facility and the bio-sourced Serpentine Pavilion.
Key facts
- Lina Ghotmeh founded her namesake architecture practice in 2016 in Paris.
- She won the competition to redesign the Western Range galleries at the British Museum in London.
- Qatar’s national pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale in Venice is the first permanent addition in 30 years and the first designed by a woman.
- Her 2023 Serpentine Pavilion, called 'À table', was built from bio-sourced and low-carbon materials and inspired by Malian togunas.
- The Hermès Workshop in Normandy is France’s first passive, energy-positive, low-carbon industrial building.
- For Expo 2025 Osaka, her Bahrain Pavilion used 3,000 pieces of wood connected with intricate joinery, inspired by dhows.
- She is transforming an existing house in Uzbekistan into the Jadids’ Legacy Museum.
- She was appointed the Kenzo Tange professor at Harvard and has lectured at Yale and the University of Toronto.
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- British Museum
- Serpentine Pavilion
- Hermès
- Estonian National Museum
- Expo 2025 Osaka
- Giardini della Biennale
- Harvard University
- Yale University
- University of Toronto
- Monocle
- Ateliers Jean Nouvel
- Foster + Partners
- MARKK
- Museum of Jadidism
- Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
- Tadao Ando
- Zaha Hadid Architects
- Marina Tabassum
- Studio KO
- Wilmotte & Associés
- Abitare
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Beirut
- Lebanon
- London
- United Kingdom
- Tartu
- Estonia
- Normandy
- Venice
- Italy
- Osaka
- Japan
- Uzbekistan
- Bukhara
- Bodrum
- Turkey
- Toyama
- Mali
- Qatar
- Bahrain
- Estonian National Museum
- Londra
- Hamburg
- Germany
- AlUla
- Saudi Arabia
- Venezia