Simón Vélez is one of those architects who build ideas. Based in Colombia, his work responds to the territory, the climate, limited resources, and vernacular knowledge—not as obstacles, but as starting points. There, bamboo —guadua— is not just a material: it is culture and memory.
In his hands, guadua ceases to be mere tradition and becomes vision. Through his international projects, Vélez demonstrates that deeply local architecture can engage in dialogue with the entire world. A material capable of uniting ancestral craftsmanship and contemporary design, tradition and technology, ethics and technique: the so-called “vegetable steel” of the 21st century. Perhaps that is the true lesson—to build with what the earth provides, while thinking big.