BBC Global Focus on Lina Ghotmeh and Her Architecture
This morning I woke too early to head to the farmer’s market so I hit YouTube (as one does) and found this gem from BBC Global, Lina Ghotmeh: How to design buildings that remember the past. It is about Lina Ghotmeh, whom I didn’t know about before.
The video is wonderful, but the work of Ghotmeh is stunning. It has been a while since I’ve run into a new (to me) architect who is refreshing to hear discuss their work and perspectives, but also sees things differently and that difference make a fantastic outcome. The beauty of flow and space in her work, but also deeply considered understanding of history and cultural context is magnificent.
It has been a while since I’ve heard good architecture discussions, from basics to really good quotable insights.
Architecture has to talk about the environment, it has to talk about context, and to do that, we have to understand that environment in the large sense of what an environment is.
There was a great quote regarding her winning the work to be the architect for the Estonian museum - Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture | Estonian National Museum - and she said the blind review panel thought they were Estonian with how well they understood the culture, history, and environment. That is the sign of good design and development, where the needs and concerns are understood and perceived as those doing the work are “one of us”.
The competition itself was opened in 2005. It was an anonymous competition, so they didn’t know that we were foreigners — they thought we were Estonians.
The discussion of the Stone Garden work in Beirut, Lebanon provided really good insight and creativity to embrace the pained history while easing a means for inspiration for growth and recovery. (Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture | Stone Garden Housing - Beirut)
In 2020, August 4th, there was a huge explosion in the port of Beirut. Stone Garden was one of the first buildings that was hit. It actually resisted the explosion. It was designed to endure earthquakes because Lina did look back at the site, at history, at what was happening in Beirut. In itself, the building embodies resilience.
A term that Ghotmeh’s firm uses is, “archaeology of the future”, which I find to be a really good reflexive perspective while researching, designing, and building something informed for the near now and the future.
It’s about always digging in the place, understanding the context, understanding the client — that takes the form of different research elements, images. Every time you build something, you’re actually projecting into the future. And that’s why it’s an archaeology of the future.
The video wraps with her presentation to the British Museum for the redevelopment of the Western Range - Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture | Stone Garden Housing - Beirut and the outcome of that pitch and review process.
Looking at the Corpus of Work for Lina Ghotmeh
This video has had me digging into the architecture firm, Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture | Paris and going through the volume of work she and her firm have already done. There is so much wonderful work and many insights, that I know I will be returning to it.