The Franco-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh, based in Paris, has just been chosen from the five finalists in the competition launched in May 2024 for the overhaul of the western wing of the British Museum, a third of the exhibition space (15,650 m2) of the museum, and which houses famous pieces of Antiquity including the friezes of the Parthenon. These are “One of the largest cultural renovations in this world” The British museum was enthusiastic. The Lina Ghotmeh team also includes the artist Ali Cherri, the architect Purcell, the engineer in structure and civil engineering Arup, as well as the Holmes Studio graphic design cabinet.
The renovation of the west wing, the final plan of which should be revealed in 2026, is one of the phases of the British Museum “Masterplan”, a program of major works over ten years for which no final budget has yet been indicated. In December 2023, the museum announced a partnership with British Petroleum (BP) to sponsor this renovation work up to 50 million pounds (59 million euros). The museum would also have received contributions from other donors, but they have not yet been made public.
View of an architect of the future western wing of the British Museum.
© LGA / PA
In addition to the renovation of the west wing, the work scheme includes the construction of new reserves in the northwest of London, a new heating system and the redevelopment of the reception court
Lina Ghotmeh was born in 1980 in Beirut (Lebanon). She studied at the American School of Beirut, then at the Special Architecture School of Paris. After collaborating with the Jean Nouvel and Foster & Partners workshops in London, in 2005 she won the international competition for the construction of the National Museum in Estonia. More recently, she won the competition of the future Museum of Contemporary Art in Alula in Saudi Arabia, and was the scenographer for the Olga exhibition in Amaral at the Cartier Foundation. Winner of numerous prizes including the 2016 AFEX Grand Prix and the Van der Rohe 2017 Prize, its work was notably presented to the XVIIth Biennale de Architecture de Venise.
Marked by the Lebanon War, Lina Ghotmeh has often associated architecture with archeology. “I started to imagine architecture as a permanent relationship with history, the remains of the past and the subsoil”. This approach attracted the attention of George Osborne, the president of the British Museum: “Lina Ghotmeh is an architect who combines a deep meaning in the history of our magnificent collection and a voice for the future”.
