munir@giantgrass.com

Munir is an Architect and Urban Designer with a keen interest in sustainability, hands-on learning and design. He is a Cofounder and Design Director at Melbourne-based design + build studio Giant Grass, World Bamboo Ambassador for the World Bamboo Organisation and Vice President of the Bamboo Society of Australia. He has co-authored ‘Co-building with Bamboo’ in collaboration with Mittul Vahanvati and 'Bamboo Architecture Unboxed' in collaboration with Jorg Stamm.

Munir’s interest in bamboo emerged during his architecture studies at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad. After graduating, he and his partner Mittul seized an opportunity to collaborate with traditional bamboo craftsmen in Northeast India through the National Institute of Design. Subsequently, the Government of Gujarat invited them to work with the Dang tribal community in South Gujarat. This experience defined Munir’s career path, as he taught contemporary design to local craftsmen and learned traditional techniques of working with bamboo.

In 2014 he won the Campster International Design Competition for route pod, a sustainable glamping tent. He has also won the Melbourne Design Award for the route pod. In 2020 he developed one of the first flat-pack bamboo Zome Building Kit as a way to make it easy for people to build with bamboo. Munir has more than 20 years of experience in working with bamboo and has facilitated a range of design and construction workshops in Australia and overseas. He specialises in facilitating collaborative community development workshops using bamboo and continues to blend his expertise in contemporary design with traditional bamboo craftsmanship to create elegant, sustainable designs.