How can bamboo contribute to the future of healthy building?
Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, with some species growing up to three feet in a single day. Technically a grass not a tree, bamboo regenerates quickly without the need for replanting, making it a highly renewable resource. Its cultivation can help prevent soil erosion, restore degraded land, and sequester significant amounts of carbon.
For centuries, bamboo has been used in construction across Asia, Africa, and South America. In its raw form, bamboo has remarkable strength and flexibility, earning it the nickname “green steel.” Engineered bamboo products such as laminated panels, flooring, and structural members are now being developed and standardized for modern architecture and design applications around the world.
Unlike many industrial materials that rely on petrochemicals, bamboo thrives in a wide variety of soils, absorbing heavy metals from the soil and restoring environments. Bamboo is easily cultivated, harvested, and transformed without intensive energy consumption. It is durable, lightweight, supports regenerative agricultural practices and local economies, and is currently used in over 1,000 applications.
A continuation of the League’s From Field to Form series, this event convened voices from across the bamboo ecosystem: growers, manufacturers, architects, and innovators to explore how bamboo can play a role in shaping a healthier, more sustainable built environment.
Panelists
Elora Hardy is the founder and creative director of IBUKU, a studio exploring innovative ways of designing with natural materials to build homes, hotels, schools, and event spaces around the world. Since 2010, Hardy’s team has designed and built over 200 structures worldwide, pioneering new approaches to materiality, craftsmanship, and spatial design. The studio’s award-winning projects include The Arc at Green School Bali, a series of bamboo arches spanning 19 meters, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. A sought after speaker, Hardy has presented on her work with bamboo globally, including a TED Talk with over five million views.
Jonas Hauptman is an inventor and designer who has founded multiple award-winning enterprises that leverage specialized fabrication with novel material approaches. Hauptman is co-leader of the Bio Design Research Group at Virginia Tech and a fellow with the university’s Institute for Creativity and Innovation. His work with bamboo has been exhibited internationally and cited in numerous design publications, including Architect and Metropolis. Hauptman recently filed a provisional patent for a mass bamboo building system that uses lightly modified culm bamboo to create laminated structural building panels.
Lucas Oshun is the founder and director of Regeneration Field Institute, an international education program in regenerative farming and bamboo design and building for farmers and students. As director of supply operations for BamCore / Global Bamboo Technologies, Oshun aligns sustainable sourcing for bamboo and wood structural systems with scaling and carbon impact goals. Independently, Oshun owns and manages Los Arboleros Farm, a 70-acre regenerative agroforestry demonstration and training farm in Ecuador focused on bamboo, timber, fruit, and cacao production.
Moderators
Paul Lewis is a principal at LTL Architects based in New York City and professor at Princeton University School of Architecture. Currently focused on the architectural potentials of plant and earth-based materials, LTL Architects published the Manual of Biogenic House Sections in 2022.
Jonsara Ruth is co-founder and design director of Healthy Materials Lab (HML) at Parsons School of Design, working with a dedicated research team to understand how human and planetary health is affected by materials that surround us and advocate for a healthier future. She is an associate professor and founding director of the MFA Interior Design program at Parsons. Ruth founded Salty Labs, a design collective, to experiment and implement designs that embody circularity with healthy, regenerative materials and strategies.
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