Wood is an underestimated building material. Good design, engineering and construction can vastly expand its potential. Michael H. Ramage leads the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at Cambridge University, and is Reader in Architecture and Engineering in the Architecture Department, Fellow and Vice Master of Sidney Sussex College, a Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a partner in Light Earth Designs. His research is focused on efficient masonry structures, better housing in the developing world, and high-rise buildings in engineered timber and bamboo. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Dr Michael H. Ramage leads the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at Cambridge University, and is an architectural engineer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, a Chartered Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a founding partner of Light Earth Designs.

Dr Ramage studied geology and archaeology as an undergraduate, followed by architecture at MIT, and worked for Conzett Bronzini Gartmann in Switzerland prior to teaching and getting a PhD at Cambridge. His current research is focused on developing low-energy structural materials and systems in masonry, better housing in the developing world and large-scale high-rise buildings in engineered timber and bamboo through natural material innovation. He teaches, researches and designs buildings, and receives research funding from the Leverhulme Trust, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Royal Society, the British Academy, and industry.