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Company description:

Since founding her Paris-based architecture firm in 2016, Lina Ghotmeh has steadily gained international attention. In recognition of her work to date, the French-Lebanese architect was invited to London in 2023 to design the prestigious Serpentine Pavilion. Since then, she has become an indispensable figure in the field. Lina Ghotmeh Architecture (LGA) stands for an approach to planning that makes the use of sustainable practices and materials a core requirement of all its projects. Conceptually, the firm repeatedly draws on regional references and traces of the history of the respective location, such as for the new leather goods workshop for Hermès in Normandy or the ‘Stone Garden’ residential building in Beirut, which reflects both the country's war history and Lebanon's building tradition. In addition to construction projects in the residential, cultural and mixed-use sectors, Ghotmeh's work can also be seen in the form of temporary structures and exhibition designs.

Jury statement

Lina Ghotmeh impresses with her work by creating a narrative interplay between what was and what is to be, in line with her self-proclaimed guiding principle ‘Archaeology of the Future’. For her work, the architect and her team delve deep into local history in order to find answers for her building projects in terms of authenticity, materiality and social issues, as well as aspects of sustainability. Most recently, her office impressed with the pavilion for the island state of Bahrain at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Under the project title ‘Anatomy of a Dhow’, it created a modern form of framework inspired by dhow sailboats and thus a bridge between the maritime Bahraini identity and Japanese timber construction – thereby initiating an intercultural dialogue on sensitive, reversible architecture with a low ecological footprint and recyclable raw materials. For its holistic approach, Lina Ghotmeh Architecture deserves the title ‘Architects of the Year
2025’.

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Company description:

On the Spanish design scene, Lucas Muñoz Muñoz has long since established himself as a force to be reckoned with. The Madrid-based designer and artist, who is in his early forties, is currently also making a name for himself internationally. His signature style is characterised by a radical design approach; the seemingly improvised and unfinished. In his interior projects, Muñoz playfully combines readymades and contemporary eye-catchers with raw, industrial-looking elements, thus achieving an aesthetic of the unpretentious, the temporary, which is sometimes reused and ultimately also intended to be reusable. Art or design? In the objects he designs, he often succeeds in blurring the boundaries. The Spaniard studied design in Madrid and at Central Saint Martins, a college of the University of the Arts, London, and completed a Master's degree in Contextual Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven. In addition to numerous freelance works, his clients include brands such as On Running and LZF Lamps. He recently impressed with an installation in Spain's national pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice 2025.

Statement of the jury

The utopia of interior design created for the present and easily adaptable to changing needs at any time – Lucas Muñoz Muñoz's work makes this a reality. Based on completed projects, some of which draw on Enzo Mari's famous DIY series ‘Autoprogettazione’ and others reminiscent of fragments of anti-design, a new, strong impulse for Spanish design can be discerned, one that appears casual and inspires a respectful use of existing resources in new contexts. He is clearly one of the most exciting voices in contemporary Spanish design – not only because he oscillates between art, product, and interior design, but also because he creates narrative objects and places that critically reflect the spirit of the times, while offering new approaches to design. A prime example that demonstrates Muñoz's sustainable approach is the MO de Movimiento restaurant in Madrid. In developing the interior, his team pursued an uncompromising strategy of upcycling or recycling materials, most of which came from the demolition of the existing building, and designed furniture and objects from found materials. For the air conditioning of the dining room, Muñoz developed striking terracotta volumes that cool the air based on the principle of evaporation. Take note: dare to experiment more!

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In Zurich, Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron has built the University Children's Hospital on behalf of the Eleonorenstiftung, a private foundation. The complex aims to take the needs of young patients and their accompanying relatives seriously, stimulate their imagination and thus alleviate some of their fears about a stay in hospital. The architects have followed the principle of ‘healing architecture’, which places greater focus on people and, instead of cost-optimised treatment routines, gives them increased attention with regard to their well-being. In this project, Herzog & de Meuron achieve this by keeping the child's perspective in mind, visually dividing the three-storey building into small fragments that are reminiscent of tree houses thanks to their wooden façade. Generous panoramic windows also provide views of the park and green courtyards. This atmosphere creates trust and a sense of security despite all the necessary functionality.

Statement of the jury

It took a long time, from the land swap with the canton in favour of a more spacious site in 2009, to the architectural competition in 2011 and the planning and construction phase, before the Zurich Children's Hospital was able to move into its new location on the eastern outskirts of the city in 2024. As the building owner and private sponsor of the children's hospital, the Eleonorenstiftung demonstrated its perseverance and visionary courage in deciding on a new building that does not look clinical at all, in the interests of its young patients. Surrounded by numerous healthcare facilities in the Lengg hospital district, the children's hospital sets an accent that expresses the social aspects of architecture. It takes far-sighted and determined clients like the Eleonorenstiftung to create clinics that structurally and visually express what they are – namely, a place of recovery.

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Initially trained as a computer engineer, Mariam Issoufou only decided to make a fresh start in architecture in her early thirties. She obtained her Master's degree in architecture from the University of Washington in 2013. Since then, she has been exploring the use of local building materials and construction techniques, as well as the possibilities of social encounters in public spaces in her projects, many of which focus on her home country of Niger. Among the buildings she has realised are the Hikma Community Complex in the Nigerien town of Dandaji and the Niamey 2000 residential complex in the capital of Niger. Mariam Issoufou Architects has offices in Niamey, New York City and Zurich. As an academic mentor, however, Mariam Issoufou has become better known for her commitment to intersectional sustainability, i.e. the combination of environmental issues and social justice, than for her previous practice. She has been teaching at ETH Zurich as Professor of Architectural Heritage and Sustainability since 2022.

Statement of the jury

Mariam Issoufou receives the title ‘Creator of the Year’ for her remarkable and dedicated career and her work, which extends far beyond architecture into society. Within just a few years, the Nigerien architect has established herself as one of the most important representatives of social and sustainable urban development on the African continent, thereby contributing to the development of postcolonial identities. A key part of this is her interpretation of traditional and fundamentally resource-efficient construction methods – such as the use of rammed earth and mud bricks – to create contemporary complexes with social appeal. Issoufou shares her insights on the path to a future-oriented building culture from an African perspective, both as a professor of architectural heritage and sustainability at ETH Zurich, and also by participating in exhibitions such as the 2023 Architecture Biennale in Venice. One of the focuses of her teaching is on questions of decolonisation; exploring ways in which deeply rooted assumptions, colonialised knowledge and mindsets can be overcome in research, teaching and practice. Her diverse work and her dedicated efforts on a wide variety of levels deserve special recognition! Not only younger architects, but also older generations can, and indeed should, learn from her.

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The student house designed by architects Gustav Düsing and Max Hacke not only provides the Technical University of Braunschweig with a new drawing room for the architecture faculty, as originally planned; their concept, which won a competition among academic staff, is also now available to all students as a versatile place for meeting and learning on the central campus. The filigree, two-storey steel skeleton construction is functional, while the transparent shell of the new building is inviting. The interior is dominated by an open space that offers various zones for group work, seminars or spontaneous exchanges, thus complementing the university's existing room typologies. Apart from the building core, which houses the sanitary facilities and café, there are no walls at all. The same applies to central access areas, so that all areas can be reached like islands via a network of stairs and walkways. Should the requirements for the building change at some point, the design also allows for flexible restructuring of the floor plans and even complete dismantling of the bolted construction elements, thus counteracting possible obsolescence.

Statement of the jury

In their collaboration on the new student union building for the Technical University of Braunschweig, Gustav Düsing and Max Hacke (both from Berlin) have succeeded in finding an answer to the needs of post-pandemic everyday university life. While numerous lectures and presentations now take place online, the new building provides a meeting place and a sense of identity for students and teachers from all degree programmes. A special feature is that the space is designed entirely without hierarchical order, thus presenting a counter-model to the familiar academic context of lecture halls, for example. The consistent integration of sustainability principles is impressive: the structure, which consists of only a few different components, can not only be redesigned or expanded in the event of changing requirements, but the steel-wood hybrid construction and the modular façade can also be dismantled into individual parts and reused elsewhere. Gustav Düsing and Max Hacke have taken the opportunity to make a strong statement for the architecture industry of the future in a competition that deliberately promotes young talent. Their design demonstrates a refreshing radicalism that is often lacking in established designers. For the implementation, they chose the collaborative form of a consortium – a way for young architects in particular to gain experience with more comprehensive projects and ultimately greater visibility.

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