Jonathan Mizzi co-designs bamboo learning centre with students in Indonesia

Arches of heat-bent bamboo support Living Bridge, an Indonesian school's learning centre designed by architect Jonathan Mizzi in collaboration with teenage students.

Living Bridge is used to host events, programmes and talks at the Green School – a private international school in the jungle along the Ayung River in Bali.

Mizzi, who is founder of Mizzi Studio and a parent and mentor at the school, said the building is left partially open to the elements in line with the school's "indoor-outdoor" ethos.

"The Living Bridge is one of the early landmarks you encounter on campus – a meeting place for parents, educators, and visitors that naturally became a space of connection," Mizzi told Dezeen.

The centre occupies a site originally home to the campus recycling centre, with its boundary marked by curved walls cloaked in pink-hued lime plaster.

It was constructed using over 300 pieces of locally harvested bamboo, shaped using heat-bending techniques developed with local experts Bamboo Pure.

Among the bamboo elements is a sweeping roof that cantilevers outwards, welcoming visitors from the entrance of the school.

Eight heat-bent pillars support this roof, which is clad using Pelupuh – a system of flattened bamboo shingles traditionally used in Indonesian architecture.

Living Bridge was designed with a flexible layout allowing for a range of events and uses. Circular furniture arrangements encourage collaboration, while booths create privacy, providing acoustically separate and intimate working spaces.

Alongside bamboo, other materials used in the building include terrazzo made from crushed glass, mycelium acoustic panels and bricks made from waste ash and lime plaster. Materials company Altarize created flooring built from lime, clays, recycled glass and waste plant fibres that make it crack-resistant.

Living Bridge was the result of a two-year "deeply collaborative journey" with students and teachers led by Mizzi, who moved his young family out to Bali three years ago. The entire school worked together to draw up a brief before students aged between 15 and 18 collaborated on the design process.

It was part of Green School's Jalan Jalan programme – named after the Indonesian term for taking a journey – which empowers students to engage in hands-on learning projects.

The centre is furnished with pieces made by the students out of recycled materials from the site to maximise creativity through reuse while minimising waste.

"The Living Bridge isn't just an architectural structure; it's a vessel for possibility," said Mizzi. "It proves what's possible when youth are given trust, time, and mentorship."

"I had the privilege of co-leading a course that empowered students to reimagine not just a space, but the future they want to live in."

Bamboo was also used to create The Arc – the school's gymnasium that was designed by Ibuku and was the public vote winner for sustainable building of the year in the 2021 Dezeen Awards.

Other bamboo buildings on Dezeen include The Juliet Centre in Pakistan and a stingray-shaped restaurant in the Maldives.

The photography is by Mizzi Studio.

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