The World Around Summit 2025—the sixth edition of the global architecture and design nonprofit’s annual convening of “Architecture’s Now, Near & Next”—is taking place for the first time at The Museum of Modern Art and is co-curated by the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment.

The World Around Summit 2025 takes place in the Museum’s Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 on Sunday, April 27, 2025, from 11am–6pm. Tickets 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.

The World Around Summit annually celebrates the best projects and most innovative ideas from the past year in architecture, design, and adjacent creative fields, setting the stage for dialogue and discussion around critical topics and themes, with the goal of translating these conversations into tangible directives and actions that move the discipline forward.

During this year’s program, The World Around will also be celebrating the three winners of the second cycle of its Young Climate Prize, who won a trip to the Annual Summit to present remarkable projects tackling urgent climate issues in their communities and beyond.


This year’s world-class 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, Designer, ilumiNACIÓN—The designer of the National Design Award-winning ilumiNACIÓN platform will explain how the project harnesses collaborative design methodologies to put 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

Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro—The eminent American architect will present her firm’s design for the Al-Mujadilah Center and Mosque for Women in Qatar, conceived by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser as the first purpose-built contemporary women’s mosque in the Muslim world

Iñaki Echeverría, Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco—The architect and director of the large-scale restoration of Mexico’s Texcoco Basin will explain how the initiative is reclaiming over 35,000 acres of land once designated for a new airport to create critical ecological and social infrastructures

Béatrice Grenier, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain—The Fondation Cartier’s director of strategic projects & international programs will offer first-time insight into Jean Nouvel’s design for the cultural institution’s new home in central Paris, ahead of its official opening this fall

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

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


Reserve tickets to the Annual Summit