Vo Trong Nghia was born in 1976 in Quang Binh province, Central Vietnam. He moved to Japan in 1996 as a Japanese Government’s Scholarship student to study Architecture. After graduation from Nagoya Institute of Technology in 2002, he joined the University of Tokyo’s Landscape and Civic Design Laboratory under the Department of Civil Engineering.
He graduated from University of Tokyo with a thesis that was awarded the Furuichi Kimitake Prize 2004 for the top master thesis of the year. He further received The University of Tokyo President’s Award for academic achievement during his doctoral thesis. In 2006, he went back to Vietnam to establish his own firm, VTN Architects. He later got his PhD in Architecture in 2022 at Waseda University.
From 2017-2020, he meditated intensively at Pa-Auk Forest Monastery in Myanmar. He meditated about 8 hours a day for many months and he could achieve full absorption concentration. After that, he meditated on 40 Subjects of Meditation that the Buddha taught. He then meditated 1-5 Vipassana Wisdom. He used the knowledge and experience to help cure the anxious and depressed people very well.
Since the establishment, VTN Architects has become a world leading practice, receiving approximately 150 international awards for his pioneering works in green and bamboo architecture. Amongst the many awards are prestigious ones such as The Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands in 2016. The World Economic Forum selected Nghia as a Young Global Leader in 2014. He has received Gold Medals seven times from ARCASIA, The Architects Regional Council Asia in 2019, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2011, and 2007. He has been named Architect of The Year by Deezen in 2019. He has received Building of the Year 2014 Award for Dailai Bamboo Complex from ARCASIA for the best building of 2014. He has won seven prizes at World Architecture Festival in 2018, 2017, 2014, and 2012. He has won Interior of the Year 2020 from Masterprize. He received a Wallpaper Design Awards 2021 from the UK.
Nghia has given lectures internationally to prestigious institutions like University of Sydney, Harvard University, Columbia University, Cambridge University, etc. He talked twice at Australian Institute of Architects. He was a Visiting Professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
His achievement has been recognized by international media such as CNN, NHK, the New York Times, or BBC. He is well-published, with a+u from Japan, Arquitectura Viva from Spain, and Thames and Hudson from the UK dedicating entire issues for projects by VTN Architects.