The first time I went to Vietnam after a few days spent observing the colonial architecture of Ho Chi Minh city and its new buildings, the result of a not very electrifying “international style“, I visited the studio of an architect ten years younger than myself whose work I knew and appreciated, but whom I had never met before personally. Accompanied by a friend who introduced us, no sooner had we crossed the threshold than we were invited to remove our shoes and continue visiting the office barefoot like all the architects of the atelier. Although we had been in the ancient capital for a few days, it was not until that point that we realized we had really entered Vietnam. The drawings on the walls, the images, the models under construction – we were to better understand a few days later when visiting the countryside around the city and photographing the many artisan workshops that weave bamboo to produce mats and hats – were nothing but the continuation of research of an ancient cultural tradition that the studio endeavoured to transform from basic craftsmanship into sublime architectural spaces: domes, arcades and hypostyle halls. The physical encounter immediately evolved into a meeting of common visions tending to recognize in the work of the architect the opportunity to interweave personal knowledge and experiences in order to recognize in the project the affirmation of that cultural identity that every work of architecture should be able to express. But the references or the study of local traditions are not enough to build future living, likewise for Vo Trong Nghia innovation tout court lacking in content and references to one‘s own history, because to understand the work of every artist and every work of art cannot be ignored from the analysis of the author‘s biography.In fact, years of training in Japan concur to reveal the origins of a both particular and original research for his country, first at the Nagoya Institute of Technology, then at the School of Architecture of the University of Tokyo, where undoubtedly Vo Trong Nghia develops within his own research that pride and sense of belonging that is typical of the best production of the Rising Sun of the last decades. But what interests the Vietnamese architect‘s work is his clear desire to disregard calligraphy and style in favour of rediscovering the meaning of his work in the interpretation of the different specificity of the themes being designed.His projects therefore range from the use of traditional ceramics and cement to reach with greater success and energy the processing of bamboo, also making him a versatile builder and inventor of assembly techniques.I believe that a mutual esteem binds us together, as well as common cultural goals and purposes. We leave one another with the desire to try to work together. I return to Vietnam a second time, I go back to the studio, but Vo Trong Nghia is not there, he is on a spiritual retreat in India. I call him in an endeavour to collaborate together on a project we have in Vietnam but for our client it is too complicated. I return to Italy and we start to plan a monographic issue on his work, which we will shall now gladly present.