lina ghotmeh to design permanent qatar pavilion at venice giardini

A Historic Addition to the Giardini of THE BIENNALE IN venice

Qatar selects Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh to design its new national pavilion in the historic Giardini of Venice, one of the two historic venues of La Biennale di Venezia. It is set to become the first permanent structure to be added to the site in three decades.

Since its inauguration in 1895, the Giardini has been the symbolic heart of La Biennale di Venezia, hosting national pavilions that operate as architectural emissaries of their countries. However, only two permanent additions have been made over the last half-century: Australia’s in 1988, and South Korea’s in 1995. Qatar now joins this rarefied group — a reflection of its sustained cultural investment and growing architectural voice on the global stage. See designboom’s coverage of the Qatar Pavilion’s announcement here.

The move marks Lina Ghotmeh’s return to Venice — at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, her team presented the design process behind its Stone Garden housing project situated in Beirut, Lebanon. Through the project, the team showcased the ability of architecture to function as reconciliation and resilience in times of crisis.

Padiglione Centrale Giardini | image by Andrea Avezzu, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

ARCHITECT Lina Ghotmeh selected for her contextual work

Selected through an international competition, Lina Ghotmeh is set to bring her celebrated sensibility to the permanent Qatar Pavilion at the Giardini of Venice. The Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect is known for her deeply contextual work, often addressing memory, territory, and craft through architecture that speaks in quiet but powerful tones.

‘My team and I are deeply honoured to have been chosen for this uniquely exciting and significant project,’ Ghotmeh shares. ‘Qatar is a cultural beacon for the entire MENASA region. It is thrilling to be given this opportunity to design Qatar’s Pavilion on the historic grounds of the Giardini of La Biennale di Venezia.’

According to an official statement, Ghotmeh’s concept stood out for its ‘architectural clarity and thoughtful response to the Pavilion’s historic context,’ a design approach that responds into its surroundings while offering flexibility for exhibitions within.

Lina Ghotmeh | image © Kimberly Lloyd

qatar PERMANENT pavilion symbolizes international Exchange

Praising Lina Ghotmeh’s appointment as designer for the Qatar Pavilion at the Giardini of Venice, Qatar Museums Chairperson Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani says: ‘Her work is inspiring new and traditional audiences with its sensitivity to the human condition and its confident, innovative flair. Lina has wholeheartedly embraced our vision for the Qatar Pavilion as a platform for the artistic, architectural, and cultural creativity of our nation and the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.’

During the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale, opening on May 10th, 2025, Qatar will present a two-part exhibition titled ‘Beyti Beytak. My home is your home. La mia casa è la tua casa.’ Commissioned by H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa and organized by the future Art Mill Museum, the exhibition will explore architectural expressions of hospitality, domesticity, and cultural exchange across the MENASA region.

Lina Ghotmeh’s model of Beirut’s Stone Garden housing at Venice Architecture Biennale 2021

The first part of the exhibition will be installed directly on the future pavilion site and feature the Community Centre by Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari, previously seen in Qatar’s MANZAR exhibition (see designboom’s coverage here). The second part, hosted at Palazzo Franchetti, brings together works by over twenty modern and contemporary architects — from regional legends such as Raj Rewal and Minnette de Silva to contemporary voices like Marina Tabassum and Abeer Seikaly.

Curated by Aurélien Lemonier of the Art Mill Museum and Sean Anderson from Cornell University, with collaboration from Virgile Alexandre, the exhibition responds to Biennale curator Carlo Ratti’s 2025 theme: Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. Discover what else we know so far about the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 here!

Lina Ghotmeh designs Bahrain’s National Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka | image © Lina Ghotmeh—Architecture

This announcement follows a 2024 Protocol of Cooperation signed between Qatar Museums and the Municipality of Venice, underscoring a shared commitment to cultural and socio-economic collaboration. For Qatar, the new pavilion symbolizes not only a strategic cultural foothold in Europe, but also an invitation for global audiences to engage with the architectural narratives shaping the MENASA region today.

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia, acknowledged the significance of this addition: ‘Venice is the only European city to have had, since the year 1000 CE, a name in Arabic — Bunduqiyyah — a fact that testifies to the teeming mixture of languages and ethnicities that have long sheltered here. In the spirit of curiosity, exploration, and sincere human exchange, I welcome Qatar to the Giardini, as a powerful global source of creativity and cross-cultural understanding.’

With Lina Ghotmeh leading the project, Qatar’s new pavilion is set to be a physical anchor and a symbolic gesture, a space of belonging, exchange, and architectural resonance on one of the world’s most important stages.

Serpentine Pavilion 2023 designed by Lina Ghotmeh | image © Iwan Baan