2025 AIA UK/RIBA Keynote Lecture - Lina Ghotmeh

The 2025 AIA UK / RIBA Keynote Lecture featuring Lina Ghotmeh took place on 13 November at UAL Central Saint Martins, drawing an audience of approximately 250 attendees for what proved to be a superb and deeply engaging evening. Opening remarks were delivered by representatives from UAL/Central Saint Martins, RIBA CEO Valerie Vaughan-Dick, AIA National President Evelyn Lee (via video), and AIA UK President Dr. Mark Breeze.

Lina Ghotmeh’s keynote, The Art of Architecture, explored the craft, materiality, and tectonic sensibilities that define her arts-driven practice. She wove an insightful narrative around each of her projects, emphasising her guiding ethos of an “Archaeology of the Future”—an approach in which contemporary architecture emerges from a careful reading of history, memory, and place, while pointing toward a sustainable and humane future.

Ghotmeh shared a wide range of her internationally acclaimed work, including the Bahrain Pavilion for the Osaka Expo, the Estonian National Museum, the Stone Garden tower in Beirut, the Hermès Workshops, and the Serpentine Pavilion in London. She concluded the lecture with a preview of her early design explorations for the remodelling of the Western Range at the British Museum.

The AIA UK Chapter extends its grateful thanks to the RIBA, UAL/Central Saint Martins, Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture, and our sponsor Axalta, whose support made this event possible.

Written by Lester Korzilius, FAIA RIBA