Tropical Space's architecture of adaptation allows traditional craft to endure | Summit 2026

Architects Nguyễn Hải Long and Trần Thị Ngụ Ngôn founded Tropical Space in 2011. Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and rooted in Southeast Asia, the studio maintains a deep cultural and climatic awareness across its master planning, architecture, landscape, and interior design projects. Beginning with careful observation of the surrounding context, users, and constraints of a site, the architects aim to test the structural and aesthetic potential of vernacular materials while responding to the region’s warm, humid climate. On the bank of the Thu Bồn River in Dien Phuong, a small village in the Quảng Nam Province, Tropical Space built a workshop and visitor center around the rituals of local terracotta artisans, preserving a kiln that had been on site for more than two decades. Introducing perforated brick walls to enable ventilation and allow water to flow through the structure during the river’s annual flooding, the studio set out to design with nature, creating comfortable, adaptable microclimates where traditional craft can endure. This presentation was recorded at The World Around Summit 2026, a full-day program dedicated to Architecture’s Now, Near & Next. Taking place at The Museum of Modern Art, the program was co-organized by Beatrice Galilee, founder and executive director of The World Around, and Martino Stierli, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art.