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.