Lina Ghotmeh, the 2021-22 Frank Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design, will deliver a public lecture, Natural Architecture — An Archaeology of the Future, on Thursday, October 14, 12 to 1 p.m. This hybrid event will include a conversation with Dean Juan Du and is the first of two public Gehry Chair events.

Time, memory, space, nature and humanity form a symbiotic whole in the work of Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh, whose exquisite interventions stem from thorough historical research. Her design methodology, an “archeology of the future,” results in constructed landscapes that enliven both memories and senses. Drawn from the traces of their place, these architectures arise from listening closely to their context, establishing a new “déjà-là.” Through them, past meets future as histories are unearthed and memories excavated to raise questions enabling more just and sustainable architecture. Ghotmeh’s practice also emphasizes artisanship and the work of the hand, allowing the built environment to embrace the traditions of its localities and uplifting the subjective experience and collective memory of those it recalls.

Among Ghotmeh's projects are the Estonian National Museum, which finds context in a difficult past. Similarly, Stone Garden in Beirut anchors the city’s past in the present by calling forward its ruins, histories of conflicts and ongoing challenges; home to inhabitants and to the Mina Gallery, it emerges with an Earth-like envelope hand-chiseled by artisans. Other works include Paris’s Réalimenter Masséna (a passive wooden tower dedicated to sustainable feeding ), the Palais de Tokyo restaurant Les Grands Verres (conceived with reused, bio-sourced materials) and the new Hermès Manufacture (a handmade, low-carbon passive brick building emerging soon in Normandy).

In the epoch of the Anthropocene, the need to build better futures has become more urgent. And the mission of architecture, from circular economies to energetic autonomies, is clear: to achieve a future of symbiosis where everything is a resource and nothing and no one is forgotten while living in a memorable and sustainable world.

Read the full 2021-22 Frank Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design announcement.

Top Image Credit: Stone Garden © Laurian Ghinitoiu
Portrait Image Credit: Lina Ghotmeh © Silvia Possamai Pox

About Lina Ghotmeh

Lina Ghotmeh’s practice, Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture, is based in Paris. Born in Beirut in 1980, she graduated with distinction from the American University of Beirut in 2003. In 2006, Ghotmeh’s design won first prize in the Estonian National Museum competition, leading her to establish her first partnership to realize the project. Her current practice, compriseing a team of 25 professionals of various disciplines, is research-driven. Echoing her lived experience in Beirut — a palimpsest of unrest — the office’s work is orchestrated as an “archeology of the future,” where every project develops from thorough historical and material research, learning from a vernacular past to build a new “déjà-là.” 

Among Ghotmeh’s major built works are Réalimenter Masséna in Paris and Stone Garden in Beirut. Her studio is also currently designing and leading the construction of the new Hermès Manufacture in Normandy and the urban rehabilitation of the Maine Montparnasse grounds in the French capital.

Ghotmeh has lectured internationally and has taught at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture. She now holds teaching positions at Yale School of Architecture and the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. She is co-president of the RST ARCHES Scientific Network and the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2020 Tamayouz Woman of Outstanding Achievement Award, the French Fine Arts Academy Cardin Award 2019, the French Academy Dejean Prize 2016, the Grand Prix Afex 2016 and the French Ministry AJAP Prize 2008. Her work was exhibited at the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice and has been widely published by the likes of Phaidon, RIBA, Domus and Architectural Record.

About the Frank Gehry International Visiting Chair in Architectural Design

Named in honour of Frank O. Gehry, this endowed chair brings a highly recognized international architect to the Daniels Faculty to deliver a public lecture and enrich the student learning experience each year. Indigo Books & Music founder Heather Reisman and 45 other donors contributed $1 million — which was matched by U of T — to establish the chair in November 2000. It is named for the Toronto-born designer of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.