Lina Ghotmeh

Born in Beirut in 1980, Lina Ghotmeh grew up in a millenary, cosmopolitan city shaped by the scars and resilience of war. Ghotmeh’s early fascination with archaeology evolved into a profound architectural practice rooted in memory, materiality, and place.

Ghotmeh earned her degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, where she was awarded both the Areen and Azar Prizes for academic excellence. She pursued further studies at the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, where she later taught as an Associate Professor from 2008 to 2015. Her academic engagements include prestigious appointments as the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professor at Yale University and the Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto. In 2021, she was named co-president of RST Arches, a scientific network focused on architecture in extreme climates and professor-member of the International Academy of Architecture (IAA).

In 2005, while collaborating with Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Foster + Partners in London, she won the international competition for the Estonian National Museum. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of her professional ascent and led to the founding of DGT Architects in Paris.

Ghotmeh led the design and realisation of the Estonian National Museum, a project widely acclaimed for its sensitive integration of memory, landscape, and modernity. The museum received the Grand Prix AFEX in 2016 and was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2017, solidifying its status as a landmark of contemporary architecture. Other international accolades include the Schelling Architecture Prize (2021), Tamayouz “Woman of Outstanding Achievement” Award (2020), the French Fine Arts Academy’s Cardin Prize (2019), the Dejean Prize from the French Academy of Architecture (2016), and the AJAP Prize awarded by the French Ministry of Culture (2008).

Guided by what she describes as an “archaeology of the future,” Ghotmeh’s practice is rooted in contextual sensitivity, artisanal rigor, and a humanist ethos. Her work spans a wide range of typologies and geographies, from the brick-clad Hermès leather workshop in Normandy (2023), to the timber-framed 2023 Serpentine Pavilion in London, and the Stone Garden tower in Beirut (2020), a sculptural ode to memory and resilience. She was recently selected to design the Western Range of the British Museum in London and has been appointed architect of the Qatar Pavilion for the Venice Biennale as well as the Bahrain Pavilion for the 2025 Osaka Expo. Ghotmeh is also currently leading the design of a major contemporary art museum in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.

Her work has been exhibited at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale and featured in major publications including Phaidon, Taschen, Domus, Architectural Record, RIBA Journal, and the AA Files. With a design language that is both poetic and precise, Lina Ghotmeh has emerged as one of the most compelling architectural voices of her generation, redefining what it means to build with memory, for the future.