Bamboo at Scale: Building the Future

What does it take to turn bamboo from a traditional building material into a planetary-scale solution for construction and climate change?

In this episode, I sit down with David Sands, architect and pioneer of round-pole bamboo construction, and Russell Smith, former software executive and co-founder of Rizome, a Philippines-based bamboo company working at the intersection of carbon removal, community development, and engineered bamboo materials.

Together, we explore the full arc of bamboo’s potential: From village-scale, heart-led architecture to engineered beams capable of replacing steel, and even the possibility of future bamboo high-rises.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How David Sands brought round-pole bamboo through U.S. building codes—a 7-year process that proved “impossible” doesn’t mean impossible
• Russell Smith’s transition from software and product launches to building a bamboo-based climate business
• Why bamboo must be grown, not just planted, and how community stewardship makes long-term impact possible
• Rizome’s three-part model: carbon finance, community bamboo growing, and engineered bamboo products
• The role of carbon credits in funding bamboo at scale and why they’re essential in the first 10 years
• Turning bamboo into standardized materials: splits → panels → beams → buildings
• Price parity with steel, fire resistance, durability, and performance data
• The tension and complementarity between round-pole bamboo and engineered “square” bamboo
• Why replacing even 12% of global construction materials with bamboo could address a third of human carbon emissions
• What’s holding bamboo back now: policy, codes, and mindset—not material performance
• This conversation is a deep dive into bamboo as infrastructure, climate strategy, and cultural material, and a reminder that the future of building doesn’t have to look like the past. In this episode, we really dive into how bamboo as a serious contender for shaping the future of cities, communities, and climate solutions.

This conversation is a deep dive into bamboo as infrastructure, climate strategy, and cultural material, and a reminder that the future of building doesn’t have to look like the past. In this podcast, we demonstrate that bamboo is a serious contender for shaping the future of cities, communities, and climate solutions.