In this video, architect Lina Ghotmeh and Hans Ulrich Obrist explored the foundations and evolution of Ghotmeh’s practice, tracing it back to her childhood experiences in post-war Beirut. Their conversation centred on architecture as a vessel for memory, hospitality, and dialogue, and on the museum as a space that dissolves boundaries—between interior and exterior, past and future, art and community. Through projects ranging from the Serpentine Pavilion to the Qatar Pavilion in Venice, the Estonian National Museum, and the British Museum’s Western Range, Ghotmeh described her approach as an “archaeology of the future”, in which buildings emerge from the specific histories, materials, and voices of their sites. Obrist emphasised her ability to create spaces that foster encounters and non-hierarchical conversation, highlighting the multisensory, communal, and deeply human dimensions of her work.
"Every time we begin a project; I think of the project as a form of archaeology.”
— Lina Ghotmeh
