Honouring green imprints

Many of today’s architectural and interior design projects not only meet aesthetic and functional demands but also prioritise sustainability, environmental friendliness, and the preservation of national cultural identity, thereby affirming their place on the international stage.

Architecture is a creative sector that blends art and engineering to organise spaces for living, working, and relaxation in a convenient, aesthetic, safe, and humane manner. Under the government’s National Strategy for the Development of Vietnamese Cultural Industries until 2020, with a vision to 2030, architecture is one of key sectors.

Towards sustainability and identity

The 16th National Architecture Awards in 2025 honoured 53 outstanding works, marking a record-breaking year in both the number and quality of submissions.

Overall, green and environmentally friendly architecture — promoting harmony between humans and nature and integrating elements of national cultural identity — is not a new trend, but one that is being increasingly perfected and spread.

This year’s grand prize was awarded to the Viet Nam Military History Museum, which received near-unanimous support from the jury. With investment from the General Political Department of the Viet Nam People’s Army, the project impresses with its modern design and its seamless fusion of architecture with cultural and historical significance.

Another remarkable project is the T2 Passenger Terminal at Phu Bai International Airport (Hue), which received both the gold prize and the special award “For Architectural Development.” Inspired by the Huong (Perfume) River, Ngu Mountain, and culturally symbolic elements of the former imperial capital, the terminal’s layered, stylised roof design evokes traditional royal architecture. The architecture serves as a bridge between past and future, human and nature, and national identity and global sophistication.

This year’s national architectural awards also saw the return of numerous works in the “Architectural Heritage Conservation and Adaptation” category. Winning projects reflect Vietnamese architects’ creative mindsets, which have been innovative, updated with world trends, while focusing on exploiting traditional cultural identity, practical functionality, and contextual harmony of the project.

In recent years, local and green elements have become focal points for architects. This approach has brought greater visibility to regional characteristics, with many architects and their works receiving national and international awards.

One example is “Phu Quoc House” by young architects Tran Dai Nghia and Nguyen Phuong Hieu, which won “Best Residential Project” in the Top 10 Green Architecture Awards and was featured at the Top 10 Pavilion Exhibition 2024 in Ha Noi.

According to the authors, in Phu Quoc (Kien Giang Province), households commonly rely on underground wells for fresh water. However, the recent tourism boom has made water increasingly scarce. With the owner's limited budget, the architects applied traditional coastal techniques in the southern region and modern engineering to design a large roof system capable of collecting and storing rainwater for gradual use.

Similarly, several other award-winning projects also convinced experts and viewers with a clear "green" mark. “The focus on natural and low-toxicity materials, as well as circular materials, is aimed at human benefits and is a key principle of green building. This is not a temporary trend but a long-term movement that will continue to grow year by year,” noted Douglas Lee Snyder, CEO of the Viet Nam Green Building Council.

In May, a series of good news for the Vietnamese architectural community as several names were recognised at prestigious global architecture awards. Architect Hoang Thuc Hao was honoured with the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2025. Architect Tran Thi Ngu Ngon won the award for Diversity in Architecture (DIVIA) 2025. Architect Vo Trong Nghia received the Fukuoka Cultural Prize (Japan), while architect Mai Hung Trung, born in the 1990s, became the first Vietnamese to exhibit his work at the Biennale Venice Architecture 2025 (Italy).

Opportunities and challenges

According to Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Viet Nam Urban Planning and Development Association, the development of green architecture is an inevitable trend in the 21st century, while climate change seriously affects human living conditions.

Talking about contemporary Vietnamese architecture, Professor, Doctor, Architect Nguyen Quoc Thong, from the Viet Nam Association of Architects, said that traditional houses of Vietnamese ethnic groups are typical examples of the design concept associated with the construction site through the use of green trees, local materials, energy saving, climate adaptation, and people's living habits. The current trends of tropical architecture, indigenous architecture and green architecture have inherited and developed, combined with the exploitation of indigenous knowledge, suitable for natural conditions, climate, and regional culture. These trends have contributed to creating diversity and characteristics of contemporary Vietnamese architecture in the globalisation context.

For the architectural interior industry in the 2026-2030 period, Le Truong, Chairman of the Viet Nam Furniture Association, affirmed that the formation of Vietnamese design trends requires a connection between expertise, creativity, and cultural context.

According to experts, there are three main groups of trends that represent profound changes in design thinking and consumer behaviour, including: sustainability and greening; personalisation and replication; and technology integration. Viet Nam's local materials have been successfully applied and gained international recognition, from bamboo in the works of Architect Vo Trong Nghia to the creations with terracotta bricks of Architect Tran Thi Ngu Ngon, showing the great potential of domestic materials if properly invested.

While Viet Nam’s architecture is becoming more diverse, vibrant, and globally integrated, Architect Hoang Thuc Hao also pointed out that many works of national symbolism, with large investment capital and high representativeness are often assigned to international architectural units because of their reputation and ability to meet global standards. This raises an important question for Vietnamese architects on their "home ground": how to strengthen their organisational capacity, technological capabilities, and reputation, while forging deeper connections with peers both domestically and abroad.

At the recent conference “Vietnamese Architecture — 50 Years of National Reunification” held in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, delegates proposed solutions such as promoting proactiveness and leadership of architects and the Viet Nam Association of Architects in national planning and major development projects; digital transformation application; and full integration of natural-cultural-social-environmental-scientific-technological-economic factors in establishing and managing green, sustainable planning, while reflecting the spirit of the Vietnamese people.

In addition, architectural theory and criticism should be given more attention in the direction of professionalisation, focusing on training architects and building a team of future architects with high qualifications, creativity, and international competitiveness.