Empowering People to Build a Better World with Bamboo

Bamboo U is the educational enterprise born at the center of the world's bamboo building movement in Bali, Indonesia — teaching sustainable design and hands-on construction to creatives, designers, and architects everywhere.

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Our Mission

Growing the Global Bamboo Movement

We are an educational enterprise that has grown out of the center of the world's bamboo building movement in Bali, Indonesia.

Together with renowned design firm IBUKU, we're just down the road from the bamboo campus of the Green School, Bali, and we have been pioneering bamboo architecture for 15+ years. Now, we're sharing everything we know about bamboo design and sustainable architecture.

We offer both online and in-person workshops that continue to build the bridge between creative innovation, eco-building, and bamboo design. We are here to continue to grow the bamboo movement and give you the knowledge and skills to build your own bamboo structures.

Bamboo U students learning bamboo design in Bali

Orin and Maria Hardy, founders of Bamboo U, at the Kul Kul Farm in Bali

Orin & Maria Hardy Founders, Bamboo U

A bamboo structure built through Bamboo U's courses

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From Our Founders

Where Passion for Sustainability Became a Movement

What started out as a passion for sustainability quickly evolved into us opening a permaculture farm called The Kul Kul Farm, next door to the Green School in Bali, Indonesia.

We ran courses and workshops on growing organic vegetables, making compost, herbal medicine, and natural dyes — and, eventually, with an encouraging nudge from Orin's dad, John, bamboo! We knew there was a growing interest in bamboo architecture but, perhaps because we were sitting too close to it, we didn't quite realize that a bamboo movement had begun, and we were at the center of it.

After opening our farm doors to our first cohort of bamboo enthusiasts, we realized that to have the greatest impact, we needed to make use of the breakthroughs being made in sustainable architecture and design in our own backyard. The world was hungry for the knowledge, skills, and inspiration to design spaces deeply connected to nature, using one of the most sustainable building materials in the world: bamboo.

In collaboration with IBUKU, we created Bamboo U — an education enterprise to share the knowledge built over the past decade in bamboo construction, sustainable design, and eco-architecture.

1,429+Students Taught

25Unique Bamboo Structures

We offer both in-person workshops that take you hands-on with bamboo design and construction, as well as online offerings available from anywhere in the world — including The Principles of Bamboo Design, the Bamboo Treatment Course, and the Bamboo Harvesting Course.

Bamboo U is more than just about bamboo for us — it's about bringing people together to work with their hands and do something positive for our planet. We believe we have the responsibility to share what we've created here, to inspire, and to show you that you can do it too.

— Orin & Maria Hardy

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Where It All Began

From a foundation's early treatment breakthroughs to a school built by hand — the roots of the bamboo movement Bamboo U continues today.

1980s

Linda Garland and the Environmental Bamboo Foundation pioneer the bamboo movement, innovating safe treatment solutions that transform bamboo from a grass into a durable building product. Her vision inspires John Hardy to see this giant wild grass as the future of sustainable building.

2007

Together with his wife Cynthia Hardy, John gathers a team to design and build the Green School in Bali.

2010

Elora Hardy, John's daughter, returns to Bali to continue the evolution of bamboo design under the name IBUKU. Together, she and her team of Indonesian designers and architects go on to build over 100 unique bamboo structures in Bali and abroad.

Today

In collaboration with IBUKU, Bamboo U shares the innovations and breakthroughs made over the last decade in sustainable architecture and bamboo construction with the world.

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Meet the Team