Between 9 June – 6 July 2025, students from the University of Surrey will be hosted by the São Paulo Polytechnic School and the Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering in Pirassununga, Brazil. The Giant Grass 2025 workshop will provide students with insights into the entire life cycle of bamboo as a sustainable construction material. Topics will include plant ecology, diversity, taxonomy, rainforest management practices, cultivation, harvesting, treatment, and processing into engineered products. The workshop will further address formal design and construction techniques for buildings and engineering structures using both natural and engineered forms of these materials, as well as end-of-life recycling and reuse of biobased building materials and structures. 

Following introductory workshops at the Polytechnic School, a two-week hands-on activity in Pirassununga will offer participants direct experience in building and testing bamboo materials. In addition to the technical content, the final week in Belém at the Rural Federal University of the Amazon (UFRA) will give participants the opportunity to join conversations leading up to COP30, to be held in Pará in 2025. Giant Grass 2025 will also include tours of research labs, campus tours, and student-led activities, with opportunities for social events, including architectural tours and hiking trips in the states of São Paulo and Pará.