Lina Ghotmeh: What Does Responsibility Look Like in Architecture Today?

Shownotes

The guest on this episode is ICONIC AWARDS 2025 „Architect of the Year” Lina Ghotmeh. Host Martin Pauli talks with the Paris-based architect about her design philosophy “Archaeology of the Future” and the question of what responsibility in architecture means today. From her upbringing in post-war Beirut to internationally acclaimed projects such as the „Stone Garden Housing”, the Hermès Workshops in Normandy, and the „Serpentine Pavilion” in London, Ghotmeh shares how place, memory, material, and care shape her work. The conversation explores how architecture can act as both a critical and hopeful practice – one that embraces complexity, fosters community, and responds to urgent challenges of climate, resources, and culture.

Key Learnings:

Archaeology of the Future Ghotmeh sees architecture as a process of listening to place, history, and material before projecting into the future. This grounded approach roots buildings in context, memory, and responsibility.

Materials, Craft, and Care From biosourced resources to hand-crafted façades, materials are not just technical choices but also ethical and emotional ones. They connect people to nature, empower local craftspeople, and foster attachment and care in the built environment.

Embracing Complexity For Ghotmeh, architecture is never about simplification but about engaging with the richness of social, cultural, ecological, and temporal complexities. Embracing – not avoiding – complexity is what makes architecture relevant today.

🗣 Guest: Lina Ghotmeh – Architect, Founder ‘Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture’, Paris

🗣 Host: Martin Pauli – Director & Global Leader Circular Economy Services at Arup

🔗 Further Links:

Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture: https://www.linaghotmeh.com/en/

Stone Garden Housing: https://www.linaghotmeh.com/en/stone-garden-el-khoury-foundation.html

Serpentine Pavilion 2023: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/serpentine-pavilion-2023-by-lina-ghotmeh/

Hermès Workshops: https://www.linaghotmeh.com/en/actes-precis-hermes.html

🎧 Design Perspectives – The Podcast of the German Design Council.

How can we use design as a lever for transformation and economic success? We talk about this with personalities from the fields of design, brand management and architecture. They give us insights into how transformation, sustainability and economic success can go hand in hand in a company. Interesting, informative, inspiring.

Chapter: 01:12 – Archaeology of the Future: A Method of Responsibility

04:30 – Growing up in Beirut: Beauty, Diversity, and Contradictions

08:41 – Materials, Craft, and Care in Architecture

12:05 – Stone Garden Housing: Memory and Identity in Beirut

21:50 – Permanence vs. Transformation in Architecture

24:06 – The Serpentine Pavilion: Space for Dialogue and Community