After the success of the 21 FOR 21 award the previous year, WAN received their highest number of entrants in 2012. The WAN AWARDS 21 for 21 is a major international competition aiming to highlight 21 architects and organizations considered outstanding and forward-thinking and who have demonstrated they have the potential to be the next big thing in the architectural world. Now in its second year, a total of 162 architectural practices were entered, where after careful selection by an international jury, was finalized into a longlist of 53 practices deemed suitable contenders for the title. The longlist was composed by Jury Chairman, Peter Murray and WAN’s Editor in Chief, Michael Hammond.

Among the 21 chosen include Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia who stood out for his exceptional bamboo designs. Other awardees were architects from Norway, China, Germany and Mexico. Entries were judged according to a number of factors including originality, innovation, form and special quality, sustainability and context. One key factor in the judges’ decision is the quality of the presentation; how the architect conveyed his or her ideas to the panel.

Nghia's bamboo designs were listed among eight winners of the second stage of the magazine's 21 for 21 Award. His work, particularly the Bamboo Wing restaurant (located in Flamingo Dai Lai Resort, Vinh Phuc Province) showcased a correlation between modern architecture and nature. Using bamboo and wood heavily as main materials, he fused local and traditional architectural features to create an escape from the chaotic surrounding city. Nghia’s built two other well-known green buildings that follow the same model, the wNw Bar and wNw cafe in Binh Duong Province.

According to Nghia, modernization should mean both preservation and innovation. He chose bamboo

to show that beautiful homes can also be possible with the use of natural materials. He noticed how many builders would conveniently think only high class materials could do that.

According to him, bamboo is the green material of the 21st century due to its ability to absorb Co2 and to regenerate compared with other rainforest species. He admires how the material can both be decorative while at the same time can play a very important role in the main structure.

Bamboo is small and uneven and can easily bend. Nghia makes use of this flexibility to create curves which cannot be achieved with other wood materials. Because of limitations on its length and dimensions, small pieces with numerous joints are the essence of a bamboo structure.

Nghia said that if too many metal joints were used, the organic characteristics and cost advantage of bamboo would be lost, so he used rope and bamboo nails to make the joints sleek. Nghia’s curving bamboo structures are bound together with not a nail in sight. Nghia's designs exuded elegance and demonstrated intelligence in utilizing natural materials. Such wowed the judges.

Nghia was born in 1976 and spent what he described as a difficult childhood in the central province of Quang Binh. As he grew up, he dreamed of building green houses, contributing to a pure environment. He earned his master’s degree in Japan. There, he was amazed how natural elements still exist in Japan’s construction and everyday life, side by side with modern technology, and they are treasured to the point they are protected by law. This largely influenced how his designs are crafted.