Tag: tropical-modernism | ArchDaily

Climate, Culture, and Modernism: The Postcolonial Campus as Architectural Laboratory

Ananya Nayak — Mon, 25 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

In the decades following independence, some of the most ambitious architectural experiments in the world did not emerge through museums, monuments, or government palaces. They emerged through universities. Across South Asia and Africa, newly formed nations turned campuses into testing grounds for entirely new ways of imagining collective life. These campuses functioned as more than educational institutions. They became territories where states tested how modernity might be organized, for citizens to gather, institutions to function, climate to shape architecture, and imported ideas to transform local realities.

Tropical Modernism Beyond Aesthetics: The Politics of Shade and Air

Ananya Nayak — Mon, 04 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000

The image is familiar, a façade layered with brise-soleil, light softened into a patterned shadow, interiors kept cool without machines. It appears as intelligence made visible, architecture that understands the sun. This image is rarely examined closely. The same devices that temper heat also organize access, distribute comfort, and depend on particular forms of labor. What looks like a climatic response is also a decision about who gets relief from heat, and how. Tropical modernism, often reduced to a visual language of shade and porosity, emerges instead as a set of situated practices where climate, labor, and power are negotiated differently across contexts.

Tropical Modernism: Costa Rica’s New Elevated Treehouses

Eric Baldwin — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Costa Rica’s new modern homes are built to float above the landscape. This wave of elevated housing is designed to minimize environmental impact while working with varied terrain. Aiming to become a carbon-neutral country, Costa Rica is transforming its housing market as it experiences a growing demand for more residential buildings.

Tropical Modernism: Puerto Rico's New Homes, Hotels and Hostels

Eric Baldwin — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000

The history of Puerto Rico is reflected in its cities. The territory’s architecture has evolved from simple structures made of wood and thatch to monumental modern works. Shaped by both internal and external forces across its varied landscapes, Puerto Rico’s diverse styles represent over 400 years of Spanish rule and over 100 years as an unincorporated territory of the United States. Today, the island’s modern architecture reflects its multicultural background.

RESET, A Norm for Sustainable Architecture in the Tropics

Bruno Stagno — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 05:00:00 +0000

Certification of sustainable buildings has become a prominent trend in architecture over the last couple of years and while most people can agree on the importance of sustainability in building, how to achieve it leaves copious room for discussion.

Design Guidelines for Contemporary Tropical Architecture

Bruno Stagno — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Bruno Stagno from San José, Costa Rica, shares his contemplations for a free expressive code for tropical architecture.

Spotlight: Geoffrey Bawa

Patrick Kunkel — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 17:30:00 +0000

Despite his late entry into architecture, Geoffrey Manning Bawa FRIBA, (July 23, 1919 – May 27, 2003), explored modernism and its cultural implications, and created a unique, recognizable style of design which had a lasting impact on architects across the world. Well versed in Modernist theory, Bawa was one of the original proponents of Tropical Modernism, a design movement in which sensitivity for local context combines with the form-making principles of modernism. Bawa’s architecture led to the formation of a new architectural identity and aesthetic for many tropical environments, and won him recognition and awards, including the Chairman’s Award of the Aga Kahn Special Chairman’s Award for Architecture (2001) and the title Deshamanya, in recognition by the government of Sri Lanka for his contributions to his country.

Remembering Bawa

David Robson — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000

In this article, originally published in Indian Architect & Builder, architect and writer David Robson pens an intimate and personal account of the life and work of Geoffrey Bawa – an incredible architect with an un-paralleled legacy in Sri Lanka and south-east India.