Ask any environmentally-aware architect or designer and they’ll all tell you the same thing: bamboo is the darling of the moment. The highly sustainable material is easily grown and swiftly replenished in multiple climates, and its golden combination of strength and flexibility make it the material of choice for furniture designers. Though its debut as the primary material used for full-fledged, ground-up structures is still in its beginning stages, one Vietnamese architect is plunging ahead of the pack with his work in his country of origin.

Vo Trong Nghia studied architecture in Japan but returned home after graduation to contribute to Vietnam’s changing landscape. As a great number of French villas have been leveled to the ground in recent years and new shapes begin to form on the horizon, Nghia has made it his mission to ensure that environmental consciousness plays a key role in the shift. His material of choice is bamboo, from which many of the tools of daily life were made when he was growing up. His decision to use so much of it in his buildings today, and the bamboo factory he erected to manage his own production demands, have placed him at the forefront of the movement.

The Water & Wind Cafe in the Binh Duong province of Vietnam is a prime example of Nghia’s work. It’s one of his many projects ranging from museums and schools to cafes and wedding venues, all of which are built with sustainable materials — primarily bamboo, of course. Its domed roof lends a heavenly sense of grandeur to a simultaneously earthy space — a space completed without the use of one single nail.

Photo Credits: Vo Trong Nghia