Lina Ghotmeh, Founder of Architecture, LG—A
The Paris-based, Lebanese-born architect Lina Ghotmeh behind the recent Serpentine Pavilion in London is known for her attention to place and history. Ghotmeh thinks about how to make bodies feel comfortable and at home within a space. She carefully chooses materials, considering energy, carbon footprint, and environmental impact. Her approach of thorough research into the ecological and cultural history of a site naturally leads her to create ethical projects—both for people and for the land. Her work answers today’s questions by looking at yesterday’s experiences.
Ghotmeh’s residential and gallery space project Stone Garden in Beirut, a textured tower, its inhabitants looking out on a city through plant-framed windows. Its handmade facade alludes to memory and craft, providing a sense of resilience and life in its embrace of the way we live in urban environments—aware of what’s lost while hopeful about what remains. Her designs tell stories, as in the Sara Hildén Art Museum competition in Tampere, Finland. They aim at inclusivity, as in the National Choreographic Center of Tours in France. They strive for accessibility, as in the Estonian National Museum in Tartu.
In 2023, she completed the first low-carbon, energy-positive building in France, the Hermès Workshop in Normandy—its repeated arches in brick following the galloping horses of the maison’s equestrian heritage. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the prestigious Schelling Architecture Prize in 2021, the Tamayouz “Woman of Outstanding Achievement” Award in 2020, the French Fine Arts Academy Cardin Award in 2019, the French Academy Dejean Prize in 2016, the Grand Prix Afex in 2016 and the French Ministry AJAP Prize in 2008. In 2021, she is also appointed professor member of the IAA International Academy of Architecture.
Her work has been exhibited at the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice and was widely published by the likes of Phaidon, Taschen, RIBA, Domus, AA and Architectural Record.
