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Historically, bamboo has been used as a raw material in traditional low-income construction, serving as a substitute for other woods to build structures, cabinetry, and even furniture. Today, due to its numerous advantages regarding durability, strength, versatility, and low environmental impact, it has earned the moniker "vegetal steel," securing a privileged place in the construction industry. The current search for sustainable development materials has generated new construction fusions that bring contemporary materials and techniques into play with traditional elements, merging and highlighting the unique qualities of materials from each region.

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Historically, bamboo has been used as a raw material in low-resource traditional construction, serving as a substitute for other woods to build structures, enclosures, and even furniture. Today, owing to its numerous advantages related to durability, strength, versatility, and low environmental impact, it has earned the moniker "vegetable steel" and gained a privileged position within the construction industry. The ongoing search for new materials for sustainable development has generated new construction fusions that bring contemporary materials and techniques into play with traditional elements, merging and enhancing the qualities of local materials in each region.

Bamboo construction—locally known as guadua—is, without a doubt, one of the regional techniques that defines contemporary Colombian architecture. As an environmentally friendly resource, it serves as a highly functional and practical building material, easily sourced in Colombia due to its rapid growth.

Farmers, architects, and builders have adopted this "vegetable steel" in many of their projects, which blend seamlessly into the landscape. With proper treatment, it performs exceptionally well across the South American country's diverse altitudinal zones. In addition, it offers varying textures and color tones, bringing a brilliant yet subtle aesthetic to these buildings.

As a subspecies of bamboo, guadua has been used as a construction material from the Spanish conquest to the present day. Its strength, lightweight nature, and flexibility offer numerous structural advantages and applications. Since it is native to the forests of Colombia and Ecuador, it has been widely used in local building projects. Additionally, its ease of cultivation and processing makes it a highly sustainable material.

This selection highlights six projects where guadua has been used as both a structural and aesthetic resource.

Make Space for Girls (MSFG) is a London-based charity that campaigns for public spaces and parks in the United Kingdom to be more inclusive of teenage girls. The organization conducts research on how public spaces are used and designed, raises awareness about perceived inequalities in their use, and collaborates with public and private institutions to promote the representation of teenage girls in the planning and design of outdoor environments. Their research indicates that their exclusion from the design of parks and public spaces often leaves them without places where they feel welcomed or valued, and that parks and public spaces for older children and teenagers are currently designed for the default male. From 8 to 15 October, the organization is running a fundraising campaign to support the implementation of its new three-year strategy aimed at promoting more inclusive public spaces.

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The Reggio Emilia Approach was created in the post-WWII period at the initiative of widowed mothers and under the coordination of journalist and educator Loris Malaguzzi. In a time of postwar urban reconstruction, the group's primary concern was the formation of new schools, where they wanted to create a peaceful, welcoming, and cheerful environment, with a domestic atmosphere where children could stay while their mothers worked. Understanding the children's interests and providing a suitable environment for exploration and experimentation is one of the focal points of this pedagogy. The creation of a safe and stimulating environment is so fundamental that, in much literature, it appears as a third teacher.

The dramatic improvement in recent decades in our understanding of sustainable design has shown that designing sustainably doesn't have to be a compromise—it can instead be a benefit. When done correctly, sustainable design results in higher-performing, healthier buildings which contribute to their inhabitants' physical and mental well-being.

The benefits of incorporating vegetation in façades and in roofs, as well as materials and construction systems that take energy use and pollution into account, demonstrate that sustainable design has the potential to create buildings that improve living conditions and respect the natural environment.

Below we have compiled 30 plans, sections and construction details of projects that stand out for their approach to sustainability.

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