Mindfulness and Sustainability
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Mindfulness and Sustainability
Võ Trong Nghĩa
Weedon Lecture in Asian Architecture
Mon, Feb 23, 5 PM
Campbell 153
Select Work by VTN Architects
Exhibition
Wed, Feb 18–Sun, Mar 15
Campbell Dean's Gallery
In a world reshaped by rapid change—climate change, extreme weather, flooding, conflict and war, and new uncertainty driven by AI—architecture is no longer only about making beautiful forms. Today, it is an ethical commitment: to reduce harm to the Earth, to protect human well-being, and to build resilience for communities.
Mindfulness and Sustainability offers a simple but urgent idea: truly sustainable architecture requires more than green technology, efficient systems, or meeting standards. It requires a deeper capacity. The most important skill of the 21st century—and of any century—is meditation and mindfulness. With a mindful, peaceful mind, we can sustain deep attention, see the connections between people, materials, climate, and culture, and make choices that are not driven by speed, fear, or trends. Mindfulness gives architects the inner stability to focus on what is essential, durable, and humane—and to design places that help restore both people and planet. In the end, sustainability begins with a mindful, peaceful mind.
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| Dong Na Community House by VTN Architects. | |
About the Designer
Porter Visiting Professor Võ Trong Nghĩa (b. 1976) is an architect and scholar, trained at Nagoya Institute of Technology, the University of Tokyo, and Waseda University. His honors include the Fukuoka Prize (Arts and Culture), Dezeen’s Architect of the Year, the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, and the Prince Claus Award. He has won 7 ARCASIA gold medals, is a 6-time World Architecture Festival winner, and has received 170+ international awards. He began meditation in 2012, trained for nearly three years at Pa-Auk Forest Monastery in Myanmar, and uses mindfulness to help people with stress, anxiety, and depression.
Supported by the Weedon Endowment and the Porter Visiting Professorship.
