Early life and Education

Ghotmeh was born in 1980 and grew up in Beirut after the Lebanese Civil War.^[15] At a young age, she was introduced to building design with a mother trained as an architect and a father who is a contractor.^[16] At university in Beirut in the early 2000s, Ghotmeh initially wanted to be an archaeologist, and this interest in history, identity, and memory are common themes of her work.^[17]

Having grown up in the Middle East, Ghotmeh's architecture draws inspiration from the diverse civilizations that have shaped her home.^[18] She delves into the rich history of a place, and her knowledge of climatic architecture, especially that of the Arab region, results in culturally and environmentally sensitive projects.^[19]

Ghotmeh graduated from the American University of Beirut with a bachelor's degree in architecture with distinction in 2003.^[20] In her third year as an architecture student, she received the Fawzi W. Azar Award as a scholarship^[21] and the Areen Prize for her diploma project.^[22] In 2001 she left Lebanon for an internship in Paris to collaborate with the Ateliers of Jean Nouvel^[23] where she worked on the Doha High Rise in Qatar. After completing her studies in 2003, she moved back to Paris to continue working with Jean Nouvel and then in collaboration with Norman Foster of Foster and Partners in London.^[24] In 2005, in London, Ghotmeh worked separately on the creation of the Estonian National Museum with fellow architects Dan Dorell and Tsuyoshi Tane, and the trio established Dorell Ghotmeh Tane/ Architects (DGT)^[25][26] in 2006 ^[27] after winning the museum competition. Completed in 2016, the museum was nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award and won the AFEX Grand Prize, which is awarded every two years for significant buildings around the world built by French architects.^[28]

Between 2007 and 2015, Ghotmeh taught architecture as an associate professor in Paris at the École spéciale d'Architecture ^[29][30][31] and obtained a master's degree in architecture during the same period.^[32][33]

Career

In 2016, Ghotmeh established her eponymous architecture firm Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture in Paris in the 11th arrondissement.^[34] Her work is framed around “Archaeology of the Future” which she has coined, due to its historical and materially sensitive research.^[35] Her early research and work include an investigative installation at the first Sharjah Architecture Triennale where she explored the rejuvenation of Sharjah’s urban courtyards,^[36] a carbon-neutral minimal dwelling as part of Hotel Metropole exhibition at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal in Paris,^[37] and Les Grands Verres restaurant at Paris contemporary art museum Palais de Tokyo.^[38] For the Palais de Tokyo, unveiled in 2017, “Ghotmeh selected natural surfaces that perpetuate the sustainable spirit, including a 60-foot bar made from compacted earth,” according to the Wall Street Journal.^[39]

In 2020, the architect completed the sculptural, sand-toned concrete tower in Beirut, Stone Garden, which was awarded Dezeen Project of the Year in 2021.^[40] Large openings across the geometric construction are filled with plants: “They transform the scars into moments of life,” Ghotmeh told The National.^[41] Stone Garden is her first architectural project in her hometown of Beirut, and it's designed to echo the resilience and long history of the city, which has been inhabited, destroyed, colonized, and rebuilt across centuries.^[42] The building withstood the August 2020 explosion that destroyed a large part Beirut.^[43]

In 2021 Ghotmeh unveiled a 6-foot model version of Stone Garden for the Venice Architecture Biennale.^[44] “This mix of elements nod to Lebanon’s history of war and violence while creating community (or, as Ms. Ghotmeh put it, “orchestrating life”), celebrating and nurturing local craft, and encouraging outdoor living, nature and a sense of hope and healing,” according to The New York Times.^[45] The model was subsequently exhibited at Rome’s MAXXI as part of the exhibition Good News Women in Architecture, alongside works of Zaha Hadid and Kazuyo Sejima^[46] and at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York for the exhibition, Designing Peace,^[47] which is currently at San Francisco at the Museum of Craft and Design.^[48]

In 2022, Ghotmeh was appointed architect of the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion that was unveiled at Kensington Gardens in the summer of 2023.^[49] It was built of wood in a circular shape, with a majlis-like assembly (traditional Arabic sitting rooms) to encourage coming together, and designed to be fully demountable and reusable.^[50]

That same year Ghotmeh also delivered with her practice the Hermès leather workshop in Normandy, France, which revives the region’s traditional construction material of brick.^[51][52] “Not only is brick a local material, it’s made by hand and is dimensioned for manual use, so its presence in the architecture reflects the trace of the hand in Hermès’s craft manufacture,” Ghotmeh told Architectural Record.^[53] The project is the first low-carbon, energy-positive manufacturing building in France.^[54][55]

Ghotmeh frequently designs with bio-sourced, geo-sourced natural materials including stone, sand and timber. She has a considerate approach that focuses on ecology, renewal and longevity regarding the built environment. Her firm is leading a timber tower in Paris, Réalimenter Masséna, which is a winner of the call for innovative projects initiated by Mayor Anne Hidalgo.^[56] Ghotmeh is also constructing low-carbon housing for the athletes' village for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.^[57]

The future contemporary Art Museum in Saudi Arabia (AlUla) is also being designed by Ghotmeh in the ancient Arabic oasis city Al-'Ula in the North West of Saudi Arabia.^[58] Based on a series of pavilions nestled within the lush surrounds, the design came to life after the architect conducted workshops to better understand the people and their customs, particularly their connection to the land and the site.

Teaching

Ghotmeh has lectured at the world’s leading universities and is an appointed professor member of the International Academy of Architecture (IAA).^[59] She holds the Kenzo Tange Design Critic 2024 teaching position at Harvard.^[60] In 2021 Ghotmeh was Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture and Gehry Chair 2021–22 at the University of Toronto, Canada.^[61]

She has publicly presented her research and work at several notable universities as well, namely at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) both in fall 2023.^[62][63] Also that year, Ghotmeh presented at London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA), Sensitive Spaces, showcasing her practice’s use of historical research for architecture that is connected to its past and forward-thinking in its sustainability.^[64]

Ghotmeh co-presides the European Union initiative RST ARCHES for advancing scientific and architectural innovation and research in extreme climates.^[65] The foundation is administered by the National School of Architecture of Strasbourg (ENSAS) and its joint laboratory with the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) of Strasbourg.^[66]

She has also been a jury member for competitions, for example, the AR House 2023 Architecture Review Award^[67] and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2022.^[68]