Inside the Green School campus in the Balinese Forest is The Living Bridge, a new structure that serves as a collective space and centre for educational activities. The project, led by designer Jonathan Mizzi of Mizzi Studio, is the result of a two-year co-design process involving students, teachers, parents and professionals.
The starting point is “Jalan Jalan”, a curricular module of Green School Bali that invites students to undertake real projects, rooted in the local area, to learn through experience. The occasion is the redesign of The Bridge, a co-working and co-learning centre for parents, which opened in 2017. From a simple request for mentorship from a mother, a collective process is born, involving girls and boys aged 15-18 in all stages of the project: from concept to modelling, animation to construction, and communication.
The new structure, built with more than 300 pieces of hot bent local bamboo, is articulated like a living organism: a roof opening towards the entrance of the school, supported by eight flexuous arches, welcomes visitors in a fluid and permeable space, in continuity with the surrounding nature. The design recalls the “Wood Wide Web” – the underground network of fungi that connects plants in the forest – symbolising the invisible bond between the people who made this project possible.
The material palette is innovative and sustainable: acoustic panels made of mycelium, terrazzo made of recycled glass, eco-bricks made of industrial ash and lime plasters that absorb CO2. A traditional Indonesian pelupuh (flattened bamboo) roof completes the ensemble, combining vernacular techniques and contemporary experimentation.
Previewed at ChangeNOW 2025 – a global summit for environmental solutions held at the Grand Palais in Paris – the project aims to be an international beacon for regenerative education based on collaboration and youth empowerment. “I wanted to make a concrete contribution to my children's future,” says Jonathan Mizzi. “Instead, it was the kids who taught me what it really means to design with vision and hope. Only in a place like Green School could something so radical and necessary be born.”