The Arc in the press (Wallpaper, Designboom, Architectural Digest India)

1// draping roof tops intricate bamboo structure by IBUKU for green school in bali, indonesia

design firm IBUKU has collaborated with jörg stamm and atelier one to form ‘the arc’, an intricate bamboo structure emerging as the latest addition to the campus of the world-renowned green school in bali, indonesia. the design employs one of nature’s greatest strategies, achieving geometric strength through curving surfaces while generating a massive volume that still manages to appear delicate and lightweight. the project emphasizes IBUKU’s devotion to bamboo as a construction material, highlighting its durability, malleability, as well as its beauty.

2//  Ibuku’s The Arc at Green School in Bali raises the bamboo roof

The Green School in Bali is known for its finely tuned programme that follows children from early years through to secondary education, infused with a focus on creativity, the arts and ecological responsibility. Founded by John and Cynthia Hardy in 2006 and built around the principles of sustainable architecture, the school is a unique take on education; and now, it can also boast a brand new structure in its midst. The Arc, designed by local design and architecture studio Ibuku, headed by Elora Hardy, has recently been completed, offering a fresh visual shorthand for education architecture and the school’s green identity through its pioneering, green bamboo roof.

3// This wellness space designed in bamboo is evocative of a human ribcage

The Arc employs one of nature’s greatest strategies for creating large spaces with minimal structure. Within a human ribcage, the ribs are held in place by a tensioned flexible layer of muscle and skin. This creates a thin but strong encasement for the lungs. Similarly, in the case of the Arc, arches working in compression are held in place by tensioned anticlastic gridshells. These gridshells appear to drape across the spaces between impossibly thin arches soaring overhead. Although the gridshells appear to hang from the arches, they actually hold them up.

“The Arc operates like the ribs of a mammal’s chest, stabilized by tensile membranes analogous to tendons and muscles between ribs. Biologically, these highly tensile microscopic tendons transfer forces from bone to bone. In the Arc, bamboo splits transfer forces from arch to arch,” states Stamm, design conceptor of The Arc.