Kaway’an Eco Park

Cavite, Philippines, 2025

About the Project

“We envisioned Kaway’an as a place where nature and design are in harmony— where bamboo becomes a symbol of the Filipino heart: resilient, graceful, and rooted." Rosie Tsai, Founder of Kaway’an Ecopark

The Kaway’an EcoPark is a community focused, sustainable farm and family educational centre in Luzon, Philippines.

Founded by Rosie Tsai, the EcoPark was designed to be an escape from the bustling cities nearby and a chance to reconnect with nature. The park grows its own produce, educates on sustainable permaculture and hosts a variety of community focused events.

Kaway’an, meaning ‘bamboo’ in Tagalog, was key to Tsai’s climate conscious vision, wanting sustainability to be a core focus of the design and to challenge negative perceptions of bamboo as a ‘poor man’s timber’.

At the heart of the Ecopark stands the largest bamboo structure in Luzon: The Grand Pavilion. This immense space is covered by an arching bamboo roof, supported in the centre by a steel arch and at the exterior by fanning bamboo columns. To withstand the Philippines’ intense winds, this pavilion employs a resilient hybrid design that pairs steel with bamboo. By balancing the complementary properties of both elements, the structure celebrates their individual strengths. This deliberate combination achieves a beautiful contrast, structural lightness, and true material honesty.

Nearby, the Marajuyo Bridge, also made of a combination of bamboo and steel, curves over the water providing a picturesque route over the Ecopark lagoon.

The process

Throughout this project Atelier One worked with Balinese based architectural firm Ibuku, construction company PT Bamboo Pure and local Manila based specialists Sangay Architects. Together, each of these companies combined their own specialisms and architectural expertise to bring the project to life.

Critical to the success was to design structures that could withstand the powerful Philippine weather. The Philippines is located in the Pacific Typhoon Belt, and can experience dozens of typhoons a year, with wind speeds that can reach up to 250 kph, (70 m/s). The solution was to use a hybrid of steel and bamboo.

Atelier One used CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to refine the wind pressure coefficients, ensuring that the assessment of the structures was accurate and preventing excessive strengthening.

The foundations for the Pavillion and the Bridge were repurposed from a previous design that was only partially completed, with the arrangement and available capacities driving the design. This reduced cost and carbon emissions.

The outcome

“We want to set an example that bamboo is not temporary.” Christian Salandanan

Since its completion, Kaway’an Ecopark has gained international recognition for its excellence, even being named one of Time Magazine’s ‘World’s Greatest Places of 2026.’

The Ecopark also won in two categories in the Lighting Design Awards in both the Community Building Lighting and Exterior Architecture Illumination categories.

The park has received global recognition for its innovative approach to climate resilient architecture and its championing of bamboo structures. The resounding success of the Pavilion and the Bridge has fueled the growing interest in the potential of sustainable building materials and has shown that even in the windiest place on earth, bamboo can hold its own.

Credits

Client: Citihomes Builder and Development, Inc.

Bamboo Architect: IBUKU

Local Architects: Sangay Architects

Structural Design: Atelier One

Construction: Bamboo Pure

Photography: Photo by Studio Synthesis, Courtesy of Sangay Architects

Press

World’s Greatest Places of 2026: Kaway’an EcoPark Time Magazine

Kaway’an EcoPark to Debut Luzon’s First and Largest Bamboo Pavilion PhilSTAR Property

Rooted in Bamboo: How Kaway’an EcoPark reclaims cultural identity through architecture and craft. PhilSTAR Property

Bamboo, Beyond: Elora and Orin Hardy on Building Kaway’an EcoPark Kanto