Simon Vélez architecte // La maitrise du bambou

For Colombian architect Simon Vélez, botany has been inextricable from architecture.

His work has been significantly determined by his country’s tropical resources, in particular its lush vegetation and abundance of guadua bamboo--a common species throughout the valleys of Colombia. Working in close collaboration with the engineer–constructor Marcello Villegas, Vélez has devised bamboo buildings that are extraordinary not only in appearance but also in their structural simplicity, and in their suitability for scenarios in which construction tools and resources are minimal.

Language: French, English