Jorg Stamm, originally a master-carpenter from Germany, is based in Colombia and discovered his passion for bamboo - a traditional local building material - during reconstruction after an earthquake in 1995. He nows plays a leading role in an international community of bamboo builders making modern structures that avoid the need for tropical hardwoods and other environmentally damaging materials.

His projects include buildings from housing to schools and meeting places, bridges, towers and other structures challenging the strength and resilience of bamboo, often combined with modern materials.

His talk will look at the engineering of some of his most challenging projects, the social aspects of working with a traditional material and also what the future might hold for ‘the world’s greenest structural building material’.