Lina Ghotmeh

Lina Ghotmeh is Principal Architect and founder of Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture, a critically acclaimed, international firm of architects, designers, and researchers established in Paris.

The studio practices architecture, urbanism and design in the broadest sense of these disciplines: a research driven process, a spatial archeology, generating cutting edge yet extremely sensitive and ecologically sustainable projects be it an architectural intervention, a scenography, an object design or an art installation.

Ghotmeh develops projects throughout the world. Among these: the Estonian National Museum, Grand Prix Afex 2016, Nominee of Mies Van Der Rohe Award 2017, “Réalimenter Masséna”, a sustainable wooden tower in Paris, winner of the city’s appeal for innovation; “Stone Garden”, 2021 Dezeen Award, housing and galery in Beirut; “Hermès workshops”, a passive, low-carbon building in Normandy; the rehabilitation of Maine Montparnasse Urban plan lead with RSHP and housing for athletes for Paris Olympics 2024.

Widely published by editions such as Phaidon, Riba, Taschen, AA, Domus or Architectural Record, her studio’s work has been exhibited at the 17th Biennale of Architecture in Venice, at the MAXXI in Rome, the Building Centre V&A in London and at the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen.

Born in Beirut in the 1980s, Ghotmeh grew up in the ancient cosmopolitan city marked by the scars of the Lebanese civil war. Although she wanted to become an archaeologist, she carried out her architectural studies at the American University of Beirut, where she looked at the notions of memory, space and landscape through her own methodology, entitled “Archeology of the future”. After graduating and being awarded both the Azar and Areen prizes, Ghotmeh pursued her education at the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris where she took on a teaching role as an Associate Professor between 2008 and 2015.

In 2010, Ghotmeh was selected by the European Architects Review as one of 10 “Visionary Architects for a New Decade”. She has won awards including the AJAP Prize of the French Ministry of Culture in 2008, the Dejean Prize of the French Academy of Architecture in 2016, the Cardin Award of the French Fine Arts Academy in 2019, the Tamayouz “Woman of Outstanding Achievement” Award in 2020, the Schelling Foundation Architecture Prize in 2021, the FD100 Prize in 2022. In 2025, Ghotmeh was named to TIME100's Next list.

She has taught at the école Spéciale d’Architecture, and was the Louis I Khan Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture, and Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto. She has also been on juries and has lectured in institutions across the world including at the Royal College of Arts, the Bartlett School and Rhode Island School of Design.

In 2021, Ghotmeh was appointed professor member of the IAA International Academy of Architecture. The same year, she was nominated independent director at the board of Saint-Gobain, consolidating her commitment to sustainability with Saint-Gobain aiming to reach carbon neutrality within the next decades. She co-presides the RST Arches—the disruptive network of architecture in extreme environments.