Bacalar Eco-Park Ⓒ Colectivo C733

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 10 AM–5 PM CDT

CLICK HERE to register to attend the in-person live-stream watch party in Chicago at the Graham Foundation
CLICK HERE to buy tickets to attend in-person in New York at The Museum of Modern Art
CLICK HERE to register to live-stream the event

Join us at the Graham Foundation to watch the livestream of The World Around Summit 2026, taking place live at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Co-curated by Beatrice Galilee and Martino Stierli, this all-day program convenes leading voices from architecture, design, and related fields to survey a year of architecture and design in a single day. Speakers present contemporary buildings alongside new projects and initiatives in landscape, climate intelligence, and design, with a focus on social and ecological justice. The 2026 World Around Summit is co-presented with The Museum of Modern Art.

An international and interdisciplinary lineup explores landscape and urbanism, material innovation, equitable futures, housing, museums, and community through The World Around’s signature format of short presentations. As part of the nonprofit’s mission to make its programming accessible to all, the summit is livestreamed globally.

Session One (10 a.m.–12 p.m. CDT): Seeding Time presents practitioners renegotiating the relationship between the built environment and the natural world, working at scales from the seed to the city. Featuring Gabriela Carrillo, Piet Oudolf, Trần Thị Ngụ Ngôn and Nguyễn Hải Long, Peggy Weil, Sara Zewde, and Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali.

Session Two (1:30–3:30 p.m. CDT): Keeping Time explores what is protected and what recedes into the past — from questions of restitution to community, heritage, and public space. Featuring Mariam Issoufou, Marie Combette, Daniel Moreno Flores, Søren Pihlmann, Róisín Heneghan, François-Xavier Gbré, and Bas Smets.

Session Three (4–5 p.m. CDT): High Time is a civic forum on housing as architecture's most tested claim to social purpose—and what a genuinely livable city might take to build. Featuring Michael Kimmelman, Alejandro Aravena, and Tatiana Bilbao.

Founded in 2020, The World Around (TWA) is a global nonprofit platform headquartered in New York, with a simple but ambitious mission: to rethink architecture. Taking the most critical issue of our time—the climate crisis—as the lens to view all of their activities, TWA connects with global institutions to craft unique public conversations that look beyond buildings to investigate the often-invisible forces that shape our homes, cities, landscapes, and lives. The World Around Summit 2026 is co-presented with The Museum of Modern Art. The World Around Summit 2026 is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation.

PARTICIPANTS:

Alejandro Aravena is partner and executive director of Elemental, a socially motivated architecture practice based in Santiago, Chile.

Tatiana Bilbao founded her eponymous studio in 2004 with the aim of integrating research, community-based design, and responsible construction.

Gabriela Carrillo started her eponymous studio in 2019, as a collaborative and interdisciplinary space for architectural work.

Marie Combette is an architect and founding partner of La Cabina de la Curiosidad, a Quito-based design and research practice.

François-Xavier Gbré is a photographer who lives and works between La Rochelle, France, and Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Róisín Heneghan is co-founder of heneghan peng architects, a landscape, urban planning, and architecture practice with offices in Dublin and Berlin.

Mariam Issoufou is the founder and principal of architecture and research practice, Mariam Issoufou Architects.

Michael Kimmelman is the architecture critic for The New York Times and the founder and editor at large of Headway.

Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali is a Sahrawi farmer, artist, and environmental practitioner who connects caring for the land, creativity, and helping his community stay strong.

Daniel Moreno Flores is an architect and founding partner of La Cabina de la Curiosidad, a Quito-based design and research practice.

Trần Thị Ngụ Ngôn and Nguyễn Hải Long are the co-founders of Tropical Space, an architecture studio based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Piet Oudolf is a Dutch garden designer, nurseryman, and author, renowned for his distinct approach to planting.

Søren Pihlmann is the founder of Copenhagen-based pihlmann architects.

Bas Smets is a landscape architect with a background in civil engineering and architecture.

Peggy Weil is an artist and designer whose practice spans large-scale public art installations, videos, and interactive works.

Sara Zewde is the founding principal of Studio Zewde, a landscape design, urban design, and public art practice based in New York City.

To learn more about the 2026 Summit and browse past presentations, click here.