Bamboo U Tierramor

Learn from the land.Build for the place.

Bamboo U's first course in Costa Rica.

We are taking Bamboo U's hands-on approach to bamboo design and construction into a new landscape.

Learn from Tierramor's living systems. Build alongside people who are restoring, growing and making this place their home.

Eight days of hands-on construction with bamboo and earth, as well as agroforestry and food. All rooted in the one place.

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The IBUKU designed maloca at Tierramor, framed by trees The IBUKU designed maloca, Tierramor, Nosara
8 days3 buildings7 talks
January 22 to 30, 2027 · Tierramor, Nosara, Costa Rica

A building should begin with listening.

Before you design a structure, understand the material.

Before you build on the land, understand the place.

At Bamboo U, we've spent years learning what bamboo can do: from propagation and treatment, to joinery, structural systems and full-scale construction.

At Tierramor, learning is based around working with the land: growing food, restoring soil, managing water, building with natural materials and understanding how each system supports another.

Now, those two ways of learning come together.

Eight days in Nosara to explore what happens when material knowledge meets a living landscape.

Learn from the land.
Build for the place.

The bamboo maloca at dusk, Tierramor The maloca at dusk, Tierramor, Nosara

From Bali to Costa Rica

Bringing the Bamboo U approach to Costa Rica.

Bamboo U was born in Bali.

Over years of teaching, building and researching bamboo, we've developed a way of learning that starts with the material itself:

  1. 01Observe the plant.
  2. 02Understand how it behaves.
  3. 03Design with the variation.
  4. 04Learn with your hands.
  5. 05Build with the material.
Wave-form bamboo roofs on the Bamboo U campus in Bali Bali: Bamboo U campus, The Kul Kul Farm

By taking Bamboo U to Costa Rica we want to discover with you what changes when the material, climate and landscape change.

In Bali, Bamboo U primarily builds with Dendrocalamus asper. At Tierramor, you'll work with Guadua, a bamboo deeply rooted in the Latin American context.

Different species with different conditions and different questions.

Guadua bamboo columns beneath the shingled roof of the maloca at Tierramor Costa Rica: the maloca at Tierramor

One place. Six ways of learning.

The landscape of Tierramor will be our classroom.

Here, architecture exists alongside food production, agroforestry, natural building, biological systems and community. The program brings these perspectives together through six interconnected modules.

01

BAMBOO

Material, structure and making

Learn bamboo selection and treatment, structural joinery, architectural design, scale modelling and hands-on construction.

Orin Hardy · Luis Echeverria · Bamboo U carpenters
Bamboo U students in a carpentry workshop beneath a bamboo dome in BaliBamboo U carpentry workshop, Bali
02

SYSTEMS

See how everything connects

Explore Tierramor as an integrated living system: architecture, water, food production, natural building and community.

Tierramor team
Aerial view of Tierramor, the maloca and the hills running to the PacificTierramor from above
03

BIOFACTORY

Turn waste into an input

Explore bokashi, biochar and soil activation, transforming organic waste into resources for productive land.

Javi
Pouring a ferment over a compost pile in the Tierramor bio-factoryThe bio-factory at Tierramor
04

AGROFORESTRY

Learn from what grows

Explore harvesting, pruning and layered planting across Tierramor's food production systems.

Javi
A group working in layered agroforestry plantings at TierramorAgroforestry at Tierramor
05

EARTH

Build with the ground beneath you

Learn bahareque, natural plasters and finishes, and how earth can work alongside bamboo.

Ceci Coronado
Hands pressing earth into a bahareque wall at TierramorBahareque at Tierramor
06

FIRE

From land to table

Explore farm-to-table cooking, earth and clay oven techniques, fermentation and Tierramor's signature pollo en zoquite.

Sergio
Wrapping food in clay for pollo en zoquite at TierramorPollo en zoquite, Tierramor

You won't just study the material.

You'll learn by building with it.

You'll begin by understanding bamboo, then work with it at full scale.

With two Bamboo U carpenters from Bali working alongside the group, you'll experience the decisions, adjustments and problem-solving that happen when a design meets real material and landscape.

This is learning with your hands, not just about bamboo.

Bamboo U students building a full-scale bamboo structure together Bamboo U students building together, Bali

Three buildings

During the January program, the group will construct three buildings: an observatory deck, a farm shade and a temazcal.

Hand sketch of the observatory deck: a curved bamboo roof on bamboo posts
Sketch for the observatory deck
  1. 01Observatory deckSketch shown
  2. 02Farm shade
  3. 03Temazcal

Your classroom is a living system.

Tierramor · Nosara

Come to a place where the lessons don't stop when the workshop ends.

Walk through the farm. See how food is grown. Understand how organic waste becomes an input. Work with earth. Cook over fire. Observe how buildings, gardens, materials and people exist in relationship.

The land at Tierramor in the hills near Nosara The land at Tierramor

Eight days of learning by doing.

A day at Tierramor

  1. Movement & stretching
  2. Breakfast at the communal table
  3. Morning circle
  4. Hands at work: bamboo, earth or garden
  5. Lunch
  6. Back to work
  7. Closing circle
  8. Evening talk
Residents sharing a meal at the long table at Tierramor The communal table, Tierramor

Getting there

  1. LIRLiberia International Airport
  2. About 2.5 hours by car, or a 30 minute domestic flight
  3. NosaraTierramor, in the mountains nearby

Where you stay

A wooden standard casita on the land at Tierramor. Upgrades are available as an add-on through Tierramor.

See the casitasMore on Tierramor's website

Meals

Three farm-to-table meals a day, cooked from what the farm grows and shared at the communal table.

Group size

Limited to 25 students, with five facilitators and two Bamboo U carpenters on site.

Where you'll stay

17 casitas on the land at Tierramor.

Wooden standard casita Included
Two twin beds, kept separate for two people sharing or joined into one king bed for a private room.

Upgrades, available as an add-on through Tierramor

Wooden king casita
A king-size bed, desk and closet. For one person or a couple.
Bahareque casita
A queen bed, bedside tables, a closet and a desk. For one person or a couple.

Every casita has a star-gazing tent, a ceiling fan and a bamboo shower.

For more details on the casitas, visit Tierramor's website

A wooden casita at Tierramor with a king bed and glass doors opening to the forest A wooden casita, Tierramor

Learn from people who build, grow and make.

Five facilitators. Five perspectives. One shared program.

Orin Hardy
ORIN HARDY
Founder, Bamboo U

Bamboo design, construction and the broader vision behind Bamboo U.

Luis Echeverria
LUIS ECHEVERRIA
Program Lead & Architect, Bamboo U

Structure, joinery, digital craftsmanship and bamboo construction.

Ceci Coronado
CECI CORONADO
Bioconstruction Manager, Tierramor

Earth, natural building and the relationship between earth and bamboo.

Javier
JAVIER
Farm Manager, Tierramor

Agroforestry, harvesting, the productive landscape and the biofactory.

Sergio
SERGIO
Chef & F&B Manager, Tierramor

Food, fire, fermentation and farm-to-table cooking.

The founding cohort

Be part of the first chapter.

This is Bamboo U's first program outside Asia.

You'll be one of 25 students experiencing this program for the first time: learning, building and helping shape what comes next.

Course participants working together on the land at Tierramor A course cohort on the land, Tierramor

Who is this for?

Come curious. Leave more capable.

You don't need to be a bamboo expert.

You don't need years of construction experience.

You only need curiosity, openness and a willingness to learn by doing.

This program is for people who want to:

BUILD

Develop practical experience working with bamboo and natural materials.

DESIGN

Understand the relationship between material, structure and place.

EXPLORE

Discover approaches to regenerative building and living systems.

CONNECT

Meet architects, designers, builders, farmers, makers and people exploring new ways of working with the land.

BRING IT HOME

Take new knowledge, questions and relationships into your own projects and context.

What you'll take with you

Eight days won't make you an expert in everything.

It will give you something more useful.

You'll leave with hands-on practice in:

  • Cutting and assembling structural bamboo joinery.
  • Building scale models to test a design before you build it.
  • Building with earth: bahareque, natural plasters and finishes.
  • Making bokashi and biochar, and activating soil.
  • Planting, pruning and harvesting in a layered agroforestry system.
  • Cooking with fire: earth and clay ovens and fermentation.
  • Building three real structures alongside Bamboo U carpenters: an observatory deck, a farm shade and a temazcal.

And a way of thinking you can take beyond Tierramor:

Understand the material.Read the place.Build in response.

January 22 to 30, 2027

Tierramor · Nosara, Costa Rica

BAMBOO U × TIERRAMOR

  • 8 days
  • Limited to 25 students
  • 3 buildings
  • 7 talks
  • Bamboo U's first course outside Asia

Come learn from the land.Come build for the place.

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Questions? [email protected] Message us on WhatsApp
The shingled roof of the IBUKU designed maloca beneath a tree at Tierramor The maloca by IBUKU, Tierramor
Bamboo U × TierramorJanuary 22 to 30, 2027
Join Now