Welcome to the Jungle Project!

Exploring Sustainable Materials, Creativity, and Community in Nature

Hi!

Alex here from Bisque-kit — welcome to our journey into natural building in the jungle 🌿 I’m so excited to welcome you to the start of our newest project: a journey into natural materials, creativity, and sustainable thinking, set in the lush hills of Mui Wo.

This isn’t your typical construction project. We're not building permanent homes or formal architecture. Instead, we're using natural, biodegradable materials to teach hands-on skills in a safe, temporary, and environmentally conscious way — giving people the chance to explore alternative ways of building, reconnect with nature, and try something new with their hands (and feet!).

Our aim is simple:

🌿 Create meaningful experiences in nature

🌱 Teach creative, low-impact ways of working with local earth and plant-based materials

🧱 Build sample elements that demonstrate natural construction methods

💚 Leave behind no waste and only positive connections

We’re setting out to create in a way that’s sustainable, low-impact, and fully returnable to the earth. That means no toxic materials, no construction waste — just thoughtful design using natural, local elements. When we’re done, everything we build could eventually decompose back into the soil.

This hands-on education project, designed to teach sustainable building techniques, spark creativity, and help people reconnect with nature — and themselves — away from screens and city noise.

Together with the team at Ark Eden, tucked into their beautiful forested land in Mui Wo we’ll transform the remaining structure into a beautiful earth-built outdoor space. Over the coming months,  — and we’re inviting others to learn with us, through a series of creative, immersive workshops.

How it all started

Back in November, Jenny (from Ark Eden) and I joined a cob building workshop run by our amazing neighbour Liane, who’s been building her own natural home right here in Mui Wo. It was inspiring, messy, joyful — and exactly what I needed to reignite a dream I’d carried for years: to bring sustainable building workshops to life in Hong Kong.

As we chatted afterwards, Jenny and I realised we had a shared vision — Jenny had long dreamed of doing something creative on one of the existing foundations at Ark Eden — not by constructing a formal building, but by experimenting with low-tech, natural materials in a way that supports her mission of environmental education.

That’s when the seed of this project was planted 🌱

I immediately thought of Ania Chorzępa, a brilliant friend I’d studied architecture with years ago. Since graduating, she’s gone on to complete a Master’s at BASEhabitat in Austria, and now works internationally on natural building projects and hands-on workshops. I sent her a message — something like:"Hey... any interest in coming to Hong Kong for a little mud and creativity?"

And wouldn’t you know it — the stars aligned. Ania, her partner, and their baby girl had already been planning some travel through Asia later in the year, and she loved the idea of starting in Hong Kong.

So this November, Ania and her family will be joining us in Mui Wo for a month of teaching, creating, and experimenting with earth and bamboo — and we’ll be hosting a series of workshops to share this knowledge with others.

What’s ahead

We’ll be working with natural materials like:

• Earth (for adobe bricks, sculptural walls, and plaster)

• Bamboo (for shading and structure)

• Lime, straw, and reclaimed items like windows and doors Our workshops will focus on:

  • Testing and preparing mixes

  • Making adobe bricks

  • Trying out earthen plaster

  • Creating small sample walls and art pieces

  • Decorative techniques like sgraffito and earth sculpting

  
  

All of this work lays the foundation for the hands-on learning we’ll be offering throughout the workshop series.

None of these activities involve heavy machinery, concrete, or formal construction. We're intentionally keeping the work temporary, reversible, and hands-on — it's about learning, not building a new facility.

The Site

As you’ll see in the photo above, the original house is long gone — but what remains is a beautiful frame of concrete columns and two original doors, still standing strong. We'll also be working in and around a space where an old structure once stood, using it as a gathering spot and learning backdrop. The original columns remain and provide a frame we can use for workshops and temporary demonstrations

Those doors will be restored and reused — a nod to the past, as we design for the future. The columns give us a solid, simple skeleton to build around using earth, bamboo, and reclaimed materials - exploring sustainable materials and methods in an educational setting.

Our first task will be to clean and stabilise the site — and then, the real fun begins.

Circular Thinking and Reuse

As part of our preparation, we’re collecting donated and salvaged materials from around Lantau — items like old windows, timber, doors, and hardware. Our goal is to reuse as much as we can, avoid buying anything new, and prevent materials from ending up in landfill.

If we can give something a second life — whether it’s part of a sample wall, a shading screen, or a workshop prop — we’ll do our best to make it happen. If it can be reused, repurposed, or transformed — we’ll find a way!

What’s Next

We’ll be documenting every step of the journey — from the prep work to the workshops themselves — right here on the blog.

✨ Follow along as we:

• Gather materials from across the island

• Mix and test local earth

• Host learning days in the forest

• Build beautiful, low-impact sample elements with our hands and hearts

This is about creativity, community, and climate-conscious design — and doing it all in a way that stays grounded in respect for nature and the land we’re on.

🛠️ Next up: Post Two – Salvage Stories: What We’ve Collected (and What We’re Still Looking For)

See you in the mud!

🌿

Alex

Bisque-kit