Lina Ghotmeh Wins British Museum International Architectural Competition
The British Museum in London has announced Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture (LG—A) as the winner of the international architectural competition to redesign its Western Range Galleries, which the museum contends is “one of the biggest cultural renovations undertaken anywhere in the world.”
Today's announcement comes six months after the British Museum revealed the five finalists in its two-stage competition run by Colander Associates. The team led by LG—A also includes artist Ali Cherri, engineer Arup, graphic designer Holmes Studio, coordinator Plan A, and conservation architect Purcell. They bested entries from teams led by 6a architects, David Chipperfield Architects, Eric Parry Architects and Jamie Fobert Architects, and OMA. Per today's announcement, “LG—A emerged as the unanimous favorite.”
“This is not a competition to judge a finished design for the Western Range,” Colander Associates explained at the time of the shortlist. “It is a competition to find a visionary team with which the museum can work, to conceive and deliver an exceptional design solution that is full of creative endeavor, while also being functional, realizable and operational.” Regardless of this assertion, today's announcement comes with a few renderings that show LG—A's “archaeological” design approach that “especially resonated with the panel,” which included Yvonne Farrell, Meneesha Kellay, Mahrukh Tarapor, Sarah Younger, and representatives from the British Museum's board of trustees.
Named for its location west of the Great Court at the British Museum, which was redesigned by Foster + Partners in 1999, the Western Range comprises roughly a third of the museum's galleries. The most famous artifacts within its galleries are the Parthenon Sculptures, though the Western Range also includes the Egyptian sculpture gallery, the Assyrian lion hunt reliefs, and the Nereid Monument, which architect Lina Ghotmeh and Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, sit in front of in the photo above.
Today's announcement comes two years after Ghotmeh designed the 2023 Serpentine Pavilion in London's Kensington Gardens. A well-known aspect of that annual commission is it being restricted to international architects who have not designed any buildings or other design projects in the UK. As such, the pavilion serves to introduce the architects to British audiences and often leads to other commissions there, as with Ghotmeh and her victory over Chipperfield, OMA, and other established architects. The LG—A team will now work with the museum to develop their winning concept, with a final design expected to be revealed by the middle of 2026.
