Winner: Housing project of the year and Winner: Architecture Project of the Year 2021 Lina Ghotmeh has designed a cement and earth 13-storey block apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon.

Beirut is permanent archeology. Buried 7 times through the ages, the city tells the story of our ancestors, its built landscape reflecting its recent history.

Located in the port area, Stone Garden materialises the Architect's perception of her birthplace. It emerges with a new architectural form, translating a sensitive spatial reading of the city. Rooted in its context, Stone Garden portrays architecture's capacity to act as a healing tool and active player in building resilience at times of crisis. It also showcases alternative ways of living while dealing with questions of space restriction, memory, nature, living, and urban density.

Judges comments: "This project is really poetic - it is talking about memory architecture, which is a hard thing to do in a multi dwelling project. This multicellular arrangement in the city centre has a remarkable freshness and power."

Architect: Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture
Project: Stone Garden - Mina Image Center and Housing
Read more: Lina Ghotmeh