Can Bamboo Architecture Help Save the World? A Builder in Bali Is Leading the Way

Construction is one of the largest carbon dioxide emitting industries in the world. Building accounts for as much as 36 percent of emissions, 11 percent of which comes from making materials like steel, cement, and glass. Yet in some parts of the world, a sustainable, natural material can lessen the impact: bamboo.

Bamboo U in Bali focuses on inspiring and educating people around the world about bamboo architecture. On the latest episode of No Fixed Address: The World’s Most Extraordinary People, host Micahel Motamedi speaks with Orin Hardy, the founder of Bamboo U, and other members of the Hardy family to learn more about utilizing this natural resource and living in close harmony with nature.

On location in Bali, Motamedi arrives at the Bambu Indah Hotel, run by John Hardy. It’s in Ubud, overlooking the Ayung River and surrounded by rice paddies.

“It’s like a fairy tale,” Motamedi says in the episode. “I’m looking at a treehouse unlike any other treehouse I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s an intricately woven basket with a spiral bamboo staircase suspended in the air floating amidst the trees.”

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A post shared by Bambu Indah (@bambuindah)

Yet the bamboo-centric design is more than just eye-catching. It’s also sustainable. To hear the full story, listen to No Fixed Address on your favorite podcast platform.

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