Lina Ghotmeh on her 'archeology of the future' and upcoming projects

Beirut-born architect Lina Ghotmeh, who trained at Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Foster + Partners, leads a Paris-based practice. She coined the term 'archeology of the future' to describe her design philosophy of deep dialogue with context. Her first competition win was the Estonian National Museum, built on a former Soviet airbase runway. For the Hermès manufacture in Normandy, she used local earth bricks and bioclimatic design, achieving a net-positive energy building. The Bahrain Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, shaped like a traditional dhow boat, uses 3,000 interlocking wooden elements for future reuse. Her Serpentine Pavilion was dismantled and is now owned by a private collector. Current projects include the British Museum galleries, the MARKK ethnology museum in Hamburg, a new Museum of Jadidism in Bukhara (Uzbekistan), a contemporary art museum at AlUla (Saudi Arabia), and the Qatar Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. She emphasizes holistic, ethical architecture that integrates memory and nature.