2023 Serpentine Pavilion designer was “unanimous favourite” among shortlist of big names including David Chipperfield
Lina Ghotmeh Architecture has been announced as the winner of an international competition to redesign a third of the British Museum’s galleries, including the space which houses the Elgin Marbles.
Practice founder Lina Ghotmeh, the designer of the 2023 Serpentine Pavilion, triumphed over a host of big names to win the prestigious commission, including David Chipperfield Architects and Eric Parry.
The Lebanese born and Paris-based architect, a rising star in the global architectural circles, emerged as the “unanimous favourite” in the second stage of the competition, the museum said.
She is said to have impressed judges with her “deep understanding and sensitivity” towards the Bloomsbury museum’s buildings and the “complexity” of how diverse visitor groups interact with its collections.
Ghotmeh’s vision is also said to have resonated with the judging panel because of her “archeological” approach to architectural design.
She is said to have likened each new project to an archaeological dig, looking at a building’s past to support the reimagination and ‘story’ of its future, with sustainability at its heart and a close observance to the use of natural materials.
The panel felt this sentiment resonated with the Museum’s collection which spans two million years of human history.
The competition win follows a string of high profile projects designed by Ghotmeh, who was nominated for the Mies Van der Rohe Award in 2017, including the recently completed Hermès Leather Workshop in Normandy and the Estonian National Museum in Tartu.
British Museum chairman George Osborne, the former chancellor under David Cameron who became chair of the museum in 2021, said: “We set out to find the best and I believe we’ve found her.”
“In Lina Ghotmeh we have an architect who combines a deep sensitivity to the history of our great collection while being a voice for the future,” he said.
“We had many outstanding entries – and I thank the other practices for all their hard work – but I can say as chair of the judging panel, she was the standout winner.
Osborne said Ghotmeh’s design ideas had “excited and enthused” the trustees, adding that he believes they will produce a similar effect on visitors as the museum’s original buildings did when they were first opened in the early 19th century.
The museum’s director Nicholas Cullinan described Ghotmeh as an ”architect of extraordinary grace and gravitas”.
“Her team’s proposals demonstrated an exceptional and materially sensitive architectural vision for the British Museum, and their ‘archaeological’ approach clearly understood the ambition for this project to be as much an intellectual transformation as an architectural one,” he said.
Ghotmeh said: “My team and I are thrilled to embark on this journey for the renovation of the Western Range of the British Museum. This competition has been an exciting process shaped by dialogue and multiple voices. I am looking forward to continuing this rich and collaborative process as we work towards transforming this section of the museum into an extraordinary space — a place of connections for the world and of the world.”
Four other teams were shortlisted in the second stage of the competition, led by practices Eric Parry and Jamie Fobert Architects, David Chipperfield Architects, 6a Architects and OMA.
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