The World Around Summit 2025

Global architecture & design nonprofit The World Around returns to New York City with the sixth edition of its annual Summit, taking place for the first time at The Museum of Modern Art and co-curated with Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment on Sunday, April 27, 2025, from 11am–6pm.  

Tickets for The World Around Summit 2025 are “pay as you wish” and open to all. Seats in the theater are limited and allocated to in-person ticketholders on a first come, first served basis.

Since its 2020 debut at New York’s Times Center, The World Around Summit has held a unique space for the architecture and design worlds’ most critical conversations, with a focus on social and environmental justice. This year, the daylong program will present talks and conversations from the voices at the forefront of ‘Architecture’s Now, Near & Next,’ spotlighting some of the most impactful projects and innovative, actionable ideas from the past year across the fields of architecture, design, and the environment. The program is curated by Beatrice Galilee, founder and executive director of The World Around, and Carson Chan, director of Emilio Ambasz Institute  at MoMA. Culminating the events of Earth Week 2025, the program includes The World Around Young Climate Prize award ceremony as well as presentations from the four trailblazing winners.

Confirmed speakers include:

Douglas Cardinal, Douglas Cardinal Architects—Reflecting on a lifetime at the cutting-edge of practice, the Indigenous Canadian master-builder will offer the lessons from nature held in his distinctive organic architecture

Alejandra Castrodad-Rodríguez, Resilient Power Puerto Rico—A nonprofit putting power in the hands of Puerto Rico’s most climate vulnerable communities 

Chatpong Chuenrudeemol, CHAT Architects—Bangkok-based architect will present his practice’s Angsila Oyster Scaffolding Pavilion, which has “bastardized” the traditional vernacular of a small coastal village in Thailand to revive its local trade 

Chris Cornelius, studio:indigenous—Through a space of kinship for Indigenous creatives, scholars and activists at the Forge Project in Taghkanic, New York, the studio founder will explain how his practice is building a reciprocal relationship between architecture and the land on which it rests

Béatrice Grenier, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain—The Paris-based writer and curator will moderate a conversation on how contemporary  architecture might adapt to times of crisis and transformation

Anne Holtrop, Studio Anne Holtrop—Renowned Bahrain-based architect will present how he rendered tradition afresh in his most recent addition to Muharraq’s UNESCO-listed Pearling Path, the Siyadi Pearl Museum

Jung Youngsun, Landscape Architect—Korea’s first licensed woman landscape architect will discuss how she transformed the discipline into a delicate scientific art over an exceptional fifty-year career 

Josh Kline, Artist—The celebrated New York-based artist will speak about how his Climate Change exhibition opens a door to the calamitous future we risk without significant action 

Daryan Knoblauch, Daryan Knoblauch Studio—Through a presentation of his most recent public projects, the innovator will speak about his disruptive approach to architecture and urban planning, as media for research, experimentation, and communication

Alina Kolar, HouseEurope!—An initiator of the EU-wide citizens movement will discuss their campaign to put a halt to demolition and transform the bloc’s building stock

Nzinga B. Mboup, Worofila—Speaking on her critical research into Senegal’s architectural heritage, the Dakar-based architect will discuss how she’s revisiting the nation’s canon towards an architecture for the climate change era

Salima Naji, atelier Salima Naji—The acclaimed architect-anthropologist will present her ongoing projects that are re-defining building conservation in Southern Morocco

Vyjayanthi Rao & Kush Badhwar, Anthropologist & Artist —The directors of the Berlinale-selected Beneath the Placid Lake film-based installation will present a meditation on the aftermath of displacement and environmental loss that followed the construction of a megadam in Southern India

Mauricio Rocha, Taller de Arquitectura—Presenting a comprehensive urban landscape project in Villahermosa, Mexico, the architect will discuss how he’s building urban climate resilience to restore the connection between a city and its river

Zoë Schlanger, Journalist and Author of The Light Eaters—The award-winning Atlantic staff writer will speak to her groundbreaking new book, which offers critical lessons from the field of plant intelligence

Young Climate Prize Winners: Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali (23, Algeria), Kenneth Uche (24, Nigeria), Amara Nwuneli (17, Nigeria), and Dayana Blanco Quiroga (25, Bolivia).

The World Around Annual Summit 2025 is curated with the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment at MoMA. Since 2023, The World Around is supported by its Global Cultural Partner the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, which is dedicated to promoting and raising public awareness of contemporary art. 

More information on the Summit can be found on The World Around website. For inquiries about partnering with The World Around, please contact: inquiries[​at​]theworldaround.com.