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In truth, it isn’t really about what makes me smile. It’s about the quiet emotion revealed when you enter a space that brings serenity: a sense of radiance, stillness and presence. It’s not joy or laughter, but a deep, inward smile that emerges when we, as humans, encounter great beauty.
Lina Ghotmeh
Lina Ghotmeh on Luis Barragán’s Capuchin Convent Chapel, and more
Many places have had this effect on me. I recall visiting Luis Barragán’s Capuchin Convent Chapel in Mexico. Entering the chapel is a profoundly beautiful experience. Light gently fills the space and, because photography is not permitted, you are momentarily disconnected from technology and from the constant choreography of people taking pictures. You pass through a smaller space and then emerge into a larger volume, struck by the coloured light that filters through the stained glass windows.
What is most striking is how discreetly the building is tucked into the urban fabric. It does not announce itself. It feels less like a monument and more like a home for prayer.
The Bahrain Pavilion by LGA at the 2025 Osaka World Expo
A similar sense of awe lives in the Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki. An unassuming rock outcrop opens suddenly into a carved cavern topped with a dome resting on exposed bedrock. One moment, you are surrounded by the city; the next, you feel as though you have entered the heart of the earth. The copper-clad ceiling of the suspended dome and the soft glow of candlelight create a unique atmosphere.
Jadid's Legacy Museum, a project in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, by LGA
Álvaro Siza’s Boa Nova Tea House in Portugal offers a comparable experience: perched among rocks at the edge of the sea, it unfolds through movement, revealing landscape and horizon in a slow, deliberate sequence.
The upcoming Qatar Pavilion at the Venice Biennale grounds in Italy, by LGA
What moves me most is not only the immersive quality of these spaces, but their ability to listen to their surroundings and reveal their beauty. The architecture almost disappears, becoming a device that frames landscape and choreographs experience. There is something inherently cinematic in such places, as in Tadao Ando’s Chichu Art Museum in Naoshima, where the building is excavated from within a hill, dissolving the boundary between nature and architecture.
Hermès’ Maroquinerie de Louviers is a leather production facility by Lina Ghotmeh in Normandy, France
The human experience is always at the centre of my own work. I think of buildings through proportion, movement and the way a body travels through space, as something that gently holds people, allowing them to feel at ease, present and alive. Architecture, for me, is both an extraordinary moment and a quiet part of everyday life.
The Olympic Athletes Village in Paris, by LGA
Lina Gotmeh is one of three Architects of the Year in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026, alongside Marina Tabassum and Je Ahn.
Discover all the award winners in the February issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 8 January 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today