The prevailing narrative of tropical modernism in the Global South has consistently overlooked the crucial contributions of local architects and engineers, according to a University of Virginia architecture professor. Mohamed Ismail argues that recognition is long overdue for these overlooked designers who made iconic modernist structures possible.

Ismail's perspective was shaped by his childhood experiences growing up on Mount Makiling in Los Baños, Philippines, where he would daily pass by St. Marc's Chapel, a striking open-air structure. The chapel features a concrete roof bisected by a long, narrow skylight that appears to float in midair, supported only by a single crucifix column. Beneath the concrete canopy, concrete benches seem to grow from the earth, filled with local shell and stone aggregate, while an organic web of water channels snakes between the benches, feeding into a small pond just beyond the roof's cover.

Despite the chapel's architectural significance, Ismail encountered difficulty identifying its creator. The architect was most likely the brilliant Filipino architect Leandro Locsin, who designed the National Arts Center nearby, though it could also have been famed Filipino abstractionist Vicente Manansala, known for his cubist paintings depicting contemporary life in the Philippines. The lack of available information about such a potentially significant project highlights a broader problem in architectural documentation.

Tropical modernism emerged in the 1940s and 1950s as an adaptation of modernism from the Global North to suit the climate and constraints of the Global South. Western designers such as Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry used modern materials like steel, concrete, and glass in colonized regions throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. When they struggled to adapt industrialized construction materials and methods to regions with high temperatures, humidity, and heavy rainfall, they borrowed extensively from local expertise and traditional construction practices to create iconic regional architecture.

However, the role of local contributors is often ignored when describing tropical modernism's achievements, perpetuating an incomplete narrative of the movement as a unidirectional transfer of knowledge from the Global North to the Global South. While tropical modernism involved countless designers, builders, and engineers, the names most identified with this movement were traditionally Western: Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, and Drew, among others. Architecture's modernist canon largely ignores the local designers that made these structures possible.

The undervaluation of local architects and engineers was evident even during the time of their contributions. During construction of the International Rice Research Institute's research campus and staff housing in the Philippines, the Ford Foundation insisted on hiring American architect Ralph Walker to oversee the efforts of Filipino architects Alfredo J. Luz and Carlos D. Arguelles. Upon arrival, Walker was so impressed with the work Luz and Arguelles had already completed that he exclaimed, "These boys are good. I wish I had them in my shop in New York!"

In post-independence India, structural engineer Mahendra Raj worked on many of the greatest examples of Indian modernism but faced dismissive attitudes from foreign architects. When Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru asked Le Corbusier to design Chandigarh, the capital for the new state of Punjab, Raj got his start resolving Le Corbusier's unrealistic designs for construction in an Indian context. When Raj and his supervisor suggested changes to make Le Corbusier's designs constructible, the famous architect turned on them, saying, "Look what is happening... all this because your engineers do not know how to design!"

Similar dynamics occurred when American architect Louis Kahn worked on the Ahmedabad campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) with Pritzker Prize-winning Indian architect B.V. Doshi. Raj, again serving as a young local engineer, helped resolve the foreign architect's grand desires. Kahn felt "we didn't know the art of working with concrete," so he insisted on using brick made from local clays, despite Raj and Doshi's complaints that large brick structures would be difficult to maintain, wouldn't provide the large open spaces needed for a university, and wouldn't survive long in the earthquake-prone state of Gujarat.

Ultimately, Raj and Doshi convinced Kahn to adopt a concrete-brick hybrid structure, resulting in iconic architectural elements like the thick buttressed walls used throughout the campus and the concrete ties that made Kahn's impossible circular arches a reality. This collaboration demonstrates that there has always been a bidirectional transfer of knowledge between the Global North and Global South, contrary to common narratives.

The influence of this collaboration extended far beyond India. IIM was the first project where Kahn used brick as structural material; he would later use structural brick in some of his most celebrated works, like the library at Phillips Exeter Academy. Ten years after using brick arches designed with Raj's assistance, Kahn famously stated, "You say to brick, 'What do you want, brick?' Brick says to you, 'I like an arch.'" Despite this clear lineage of influence, no major writing on Kahn's work in India cites Raj's contributions to IIM's renowned design.

Returning to St. Marc's Chapel, the design demonstrates sophisticated understanding of local conditions. The designers understood that tropical rainstorms could strike at any moment, so rather than enclosing the chapel and blocking out the environment, water is allowed in, filling the concrete channels and the air with sound as it is dutifully drained away. An engineer, likely Filipino, understood that supporting a large concrete roof with a single column on an active volcano subject to regular earthquakes and typhoons required certain structural innovations.

The chapel's engineering solutions are remarkably sophisticated. The roof tapers up toward the edges, intensifying the sense of a "floating" structure while minimizing its weight. The roof cantilevers both forward and backward, reducing the amount of torque affecting the column. The large crucifix stabilizes the column with its own weight, similar to the spires atop a Gothic cathedral's flying buttresses. Finally, the flaring concrete base, from which the benches appear to grow, provides a large counterbalance hidden in the ground.

Ismail emphasizes that to fully understand the works of tropical modernists in the Global South, we must not forget the impact of local architects and engineers who were overlooked even in their own time. Their recognition is long overdue, and their contributions represent a crucial but missing piece of architectural history that deserves proper acknowledgment and study.