Architects and researchers Ha Nguyen of arb architects, Vietnam, and Hojung Kim, US-based professor, have been selected for the Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth with their project “Situated Regionalism”. Their fellowship will unfold between Vietnam and Berlin, combining fieldwork, prototyping, and digital research to advance regenerative earthen construction rooted in local knowledge and ecological sensitivity.
Addressing growing environmental concerns, Situated Regionalism explores the potential of unfired brick construction across Vietnam’s seven ecological zones—from upland forests to coastal wetlands. The project responds to the country’s diverse geology and Indigenous building traditions, while confronting the environmental challenges posed by colonial-era infrastructure, war-related contamination, and rapid industrialization.
The Fellows’ hybrid methodology reactivates vernacular techniques grounded in Indigenous knowledge, ecological resilience, and transdisciplinary design. In the Cao Phong region, they will investigate ferralitic soils, local fibers, and Mường traditions through the creation of a full-scale prototype. Parallel to this, they will produce a digitally accessible Soil Atlas mapping systemically Vietnam’s seven ecological zones. This open resource will function as an educational and design tool—promoting ecologically grounded, culturally resilient building strategies while connecting Vietnam’s material expertise to global networks of earthen construction.
By anchoring design innovation in site-specific knowledge, Situated Regionalism seeks to influence not only local building practices but also broader policy and industry conversations on sustainable construction. The project’s outputs—prototype structures, an accessible knowledge base, and collaborative engagement with craftspeople and communities—are designed for direct uptake in future building projects across Vietnam and beyond.
Alongside the fellowship, Nguyen and Kim are recipients of the 2025–2026 Graham Foundation Award. Their project, Dichotomy of Heritage and Industrialization in Mang Thít’s Sustainable Development, focuses on Mang Thít, Vietnam. Documenting hydraulic and environmental impacts alongside cultural, historical, and socio-economic contexts in the present, it combines mapping with field research to examine how hydraulic changes affect alluvial soils and traditional occupations such as brick-making and agriculture, with an exhibition planned for 2026.
Ha Nguyen and Hojung Kim are co-founders of the Material Matters (MM) Research Lab, a platform for material experimentation and cross-cultural knowledge production. The Lab’s work in Vietnam integrates computational tools with local craft traditions to challenge architectural paradigms that have historically marginalized Indigenous practices. While arb Architects, co-founded by Nguyen, focuses on practice-based work, MM Lab provides the research foundation that supports and extends this practice.
Jury Statements
“The jury was especially intrigued by Ha Nguyen’s proposal because it combines research of traditional techniques with a high-quality contemporary design approach. Together with Hojung Kim, they aim to reactivate local soils in Vietnam as building material, adding a specific territorial perspective on earth construction—similar to how Experimental’s previous fellows Grunt examined post-war contaminated soil in Ukraine. Mapping geological zones will result in a digital Soil Atlas that promotes regenerative building strategies on a larger scale. Their impressive portfolio underlines the high quality of work that combines cultural techniques with outstanding design.” Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Christiane Sauer (Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Matters of Activity, Berlin)
“Contemporary architectural practice is only relevant when the work can be approached and viewed from a different perspective every other day. And every other day, every other perspective makes that work and that commitment fully available in a prismatic manner, without restrictions. And then the discourse of the popular and thus tendentious becomes universal but relevant. And then suddenly: the word beauty. No further explanation needed. Architecture. The practice of Ha Nguyen and the research together with Hojung Kim stands for this.” Prof. Jan de Vylder (ETH Zurich, A JDVIV, Ghent/Brussels)
About the Fellows
Ha Nguyen, co-founder of arb Architects Vietnam and MM Lab, integrates memory, material, and Indigenous belief in her work. She blends computational techniques with local craft traditions to explore ecological, cultural, and community design strategies. Her practice affirms Indigenous knowledge and spatial autonomy, challenging dominant architectural paradigms. In 2024, she received the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture for her innovative, culturally rooted, and materially experimental design.
Hojung Kim, Assistant Professor in the School of Interior Architecture at the University of Tennessee and co-founder of MM Lab, studies material practices through cultural, ecological, and socio-economic lenses. His work examines how centralized manufacturing systems displace Indigenous techniques, marginalize communities, and undermine local ecologies—framing material making as a space for ecological resistance and cultural resilience.
The Experimental Fellowship
The Fellowship, a collaboration of Experimental with Bauhaus Earth, is supported by a robust network of project-specific partners and research experts. The program offers financial support, mentorship, and a cross-disciplinary environment for developing sustainable architectural practices. The last Open Call for the Fellowship Program, announced in April 2025, attracted 199 submissions worldwide. The international jury met in Berlin on June 12–13, 2025. Experimental Foundation will establish additional partnerships for future fellowships and initiatives. Next calls are planned by spring 2026.
In 2022 the Experimental Fellowship Program assigned its first Fellowship to the London-based Material Cultures, followed by the German collective Baukreisel e.V.. The most current Fellows include Maria Lisogorskaya and Kaye Song from Assemble, London, and Lviv-based architects Anna Pomazanna and Mykhailo Shevchenko.
Jury: Prof. Florian Nagler (TU Munich, Nagler Architekten, Munich), Prof. Anna Ramos (ETSAB-UPC, Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona), Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Christiane Sauer (Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Berlin), Karen Stein (Independent Critic and Architectural Advisor, New York), Prof. Jan de Vylder (ETH Zurich, A JDVIV, Ghent/Brussels), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Wurm (KU Leuven, Arup, Brussels/Berlin), Prof. Regine Leibinger (Experimental, Barkow Leibinger, Berlin), Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz (Bauhaus Earth, TU Berlin, Berlin), Chrissie Muhr (Experimental, Berlin/Basel).
Experimental is a non-profit organization founded in Berlin by architect Prof. Regine Leibinger in 2022. It promotes sustainable architecture projects and practices contributing to the Bauwende (building transition).
Bauhaus Earth is an international think-and-make tank dedicated to the regenerative transformation of the built environment. It complement the fellowship with its hands-on Workshop at Campus Atelier Gardens in Berlin.
Further information can be found on the websites of Experimental Foundation and Bauhaus Earth and via social media. Press contact and inquiries: press@experimental-foundation.com, press@bauhauserde.org.
