Following the earthquake in Colombia (10th August 2026), people whose homes have been affected are facing the difficult reality of needing safe places to live. In response, a network of architects, bamboo builders, designers, organisations and local communities has been inspiring each other in the develpment of practical, dignified ways of supporting affected communities.

One of the proposals is to build bamboo shelters designed to provide a safe place to live now, while also having the possibility of becoming part of a longer-term living space. One specific type of shelter stands out for it's qualities to help in this kind of crisis: the yurt, a round, retractable frame in either bamboo or wood, which has been used by nomadic communities in Central Asia for millenia.

We are Elle and Sergio , British and Colombian architects and cofounders of Ekawa, where we have been exploring bamboo construction for 8 years in Colombia. When the earthquake happened, we initially wanted to offer bamboo to support the creation of these humanitarian shelters.

Reading about the wider needs in the areas affected by the earthquake, we realised we could offer much more: in addition to the bamboo growing here, we have a workshop, tools, years of experience working and building with bamboo, and space to bring people together to build the shelters... But we also realised we need help to fund the immunising of bamboo, transporting yurts to the affected areas, floor and roof finishes, etc.

So during September and October, we're dedicating our bamboo workshop and our capacity at Ekawa to fabricate as many bamboo shelters as we can. We don't know exactly how many that will be, and don't want to make promises based on estimates that may turn out to be wrong. So instead we're asking our wider community to help us create the resources that will allow us to make as many as our collective capacity allows.

We are contributing:

WHAT WILL YOUR DONATION HELP WITH?

Turning the bamboo into durable structures requires materials and logistics that we need help to cover. Funds raised through this campaign will be used specifically for the fabrication and delivery of bamboo shelters, including:

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT

We will share updates throughout September and October showing what we're making, who is helping, and how the project is progressing. We want to be transparent that we don't yet know exactly how many bamboo shelters the campaign will enable. Rather than putting an arbitrary price on each yurt, we're asking for support that will allow us to keep building. The more resources we can gather, the more bamboo we can treat, the more structures we can fabricate, and the more shelters we can help put where they are needed. At the end of October we will review whether or not we continue building the relief yurts at Ekawa. At whichever point in time we conclude the project, any funds left from the donations will go to Misión Yurtas Valle in their continued earthquake relief efforts in Colombia.

Two months. One workshop. As many bamboo shelters as we can build.

We have bamboo and a place to build. Now we're opening this process to everyone who wants to be part of it.

Let's put the bamboo to work!

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Who we are

Eleanor McIntyre: British, 36 years old, living in Colombia

Sergio Pineda: Colombian (lived in UK 18 years), 48 years old, living in Colombia

More about us

The wider relief effort with bamboo yurts

This is a contribution within a much bigger response - we were not the first to suggest the bamboo yurt as a relief effort, and rather we have been inspired by others who already created fabrication spaces for humanitarian aid in the wake of the earthquake in Colombia. For the current crisis we are collaborating with a wider network of architects, bamboo builders and humanitarian aid groups including the following:

Mision Yurtas Valle

Escuela Popular de la Guadua

Silvestre Bioarquitectura

Casagrafo

Tierra Magia

Cadica Design

Brote de Bambú