This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 7, 2022 - February 13, 2022

Bali-based architecture and design studio IBUKU aims to provide spaces in which people can live in an authentic relationship with nature. It does this by designing fully functional homes that are made of natural materials and constructed in ways that integrate with nature.

The studio emphasises attention to detail from start to finish, including bespoke interior furnishings for its projects. Among its prominent projects are the Green School, Green Village, Sharma Springs and Bambu Indah in Bali.

Founded in 2010, IBUKU comprises about 25 design professionals with various levels of expertise led by founder and creative director Elora Hardy. The name “IBUKU”, which means “my mother” (ibu pertiwi or Mother Earth) in Indonesian, is the national personification of Indonesia and an embodiment of the archipelago as homeland.

Hardy, who was raised in Bali, was inspired by the highly skilled local craftsmen and her parents’ jewellery designs from a young age. She spent 14 years in the US, where she earned a degree in fine arts, and later designed prints for American fashion designer Donna Karan in New York.

She left her career in the fashion world in 2010 to carry on the work of the design-build team that created the Green School in Bali that was founded by her parents, John and Cynthia Hardy.

Hardy then reconnected with the local culture and landscape and today, continues to cultivate Balinese artisans along with various creative and innovative designers and architects. Ultimately, her intention is to make Bali a global centre for sustainable design and to bring these designs to the rest of the world.

“To date, we have designed and built over 100 buildings in Bali and around the world. We have created master plans, architectural design and bespoke interiors for restaurants, homes, resorts, spas, schools and workshop spaces, among others,” she shares. Along the way, the studio has established an innovative new design vocabulary born from bamboo, but with an ever-growing material palette. “Our main goal is to keep expanding the horizons of design through international collaborations, exploring the intersection of technology and natural materials, as well as continue creating spaces that people could experience and feel,” Hardy says.

She explains that the studio uses bamboo as the primary material in building and construction because of its strength and flexibility, as well as its four-year growth cycle and carbon sequestration capacity, making it the most environmentally conscientious building material conceivable.

“In a world of retro-fitting or redesigning traditional items and materials to be slightly less bad, we decided to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Though bamboo has traditionally been used throughout Asia in short-term structures, new treatment methods have provided it a capacity for longer life. Our engineers, architects and designers have created a completely new vocabulary, whereby not only is bamboo good for the environment, but it also helps the people living in that space connect to nature, which ultimately enhances their quality of life,” she adds.

Hardy’s design philosophy is rooted in considering the human experience and conceiving a new space from eye level within it as well as imagining how she wants the future buildings to help her feel. “Humans are not separated from nature; thus when designing spaces, I approached it as an extension of self,” she explains.

“I do not consider myself an architect as I have not been trained in architecture, but I lead the creative direction for our team of designers and architects. Expertise plays an important role in creating anything new that requires collaboration among people with different expertise. However, each individual must be open-minded and be willing to discover new things. We push and question each other, challenge assumptions and keep looking out for falling star ideas.”

Hardy says she loves what she does and has a real passion for design, especially design that lasts, which is what special and architectural design is all about. “Crafting an experience in a way that nurtures and nourishes the mind and body is an intricate and beautiful process that I feel the need to participate in — to find ways to lose myself in the present and be hopeful about the future.”

She notes that the architecture industry in Bali is a varied one, often a mix of many international agendas. “I am interested in designs that aspire to belong here, that grow out of something of the geography or history, and aim to be a new direction for what continues to be an ever-evolving culture.”

Hardy believes the events of the past couple of years have changed paradigms about being at home, being introspective and being outdoors, and hopefully will result in people returning to appreciating the place where they live and the earth. “Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was more opportunity to flit from place to place and to identify with a larger circuit, but now, we tend to care more about our homes, which serve as a place to live, work, and play.”

Two of the firm’s more notable projects are The Arc, and Copper House and Moon House in Bali.

The Arc, which is the latest building to be completed on the site of the Green School, features a complex double-curved roof made entirely with bamboo. It was completed in April last year and has a width of 23.5m (75ft), a length of 41m (134ft) and a height of 14m (46ft), with a total built-up area of 760 sq m (8,180 sq ft).

The structure is not only an incredible work of bamboo architecture, but will also stand out as a new reference in lightweight structures altogether. “This totally unprecedented building required months of research and development, and fine tuning of tailor-made details. The result is a refined design with unparalleled beauty, which stands as a testament to our commitment to expanding horizons in architecture and design,” Hardy says.

She explains that The Arc employs one of nature’s greatest strategies for creating large spaces with minimal structure. It exhibits a counterintuitive orchestration of geometry that brings the structure into a state of equilibrium, resulting in a significant decreased necessity for structural material. Within a human ribcage, a series of ribs working in compression are held in place by a tensioned flexible layer of muscle and skin, creating a thin but strong encasement for the lungs.

“In the case of The Arc, arches working in compression are held in place by tensioned anticlastic grid shells and subsequently these grid shells appear to drape across the spaces between impossibly thin arches soaring overhead, which gives a whimsy, intimacy and beauty to the space. Although the grid shells appear to hang from the arches, weighing them down, in reality, the grid shells are structural [and] help to redistribute the weight along the arches.

“The arches supporting the pavilion’s roof span 19m, allowing for a large floor area that is uninterrupted by supporting columns. Spaces around the base of the canopy allow breezes to flow through that promote natural ventilation, while vents at the roof’s apex enable warm air to escape,” she adds.

Located at Bambu Indah — an eco-resort in Sayan, Bali — the Moon House and Copper House were co-designed by IBUKU and John Hardy. Both structures were completed in 2018 and intended to provide guests with the opportunity to have the closest possible connection with nature. 

Both rooms were constructed using a grid shell structure, which gives a very organic feel, and were designed to maximise the stunning view of the river and rice fields. “Copper House, which is named after its beautiful copper roof shingles, has a built-up area of 700 sq ft and was built around a tree that was already growing on the ridge site. The copper bathtub is one of the focal points of the room. I thought it would be lovely to be standing in front of the tree and see a mirror over the sink and that incredible view at the same time,” says Hardy.

As for Moon House, she explains that the concept was also very simple — to wrap a shell around the space, which ultimately creates a beautiful area for the bed and maintains the openness of the location. The room measures 1,030 sq ft and has a spring-fed freshwater private plunge pool. Hammock nets suspended over the pool are suitable for lounging in the day and an air-conditioned bed surrounded by a semi-dome of mosquito netting allows for peaceful sleep at night.

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