With its research and testing center, the Bamboo Academy and its own construction projects in the Philippines, Nepal and other Asian countries, the BASE Bahay Foundation, founded by the Hilti Foundation in 2014, aims to make bamboo a standard building material of the future – dedicated to the needs in construction of low-income families.

The Affordable Housing & Technology focus area is about changing the way low-income families build and live. Here, our work is based on three initiatives: spreading bamboo construction, creating an inclusive housing industry, and building coalitions of impact.

Affordable Housing & Technology is one of the Hilti Foundation's focus areas. That involves more than the well-known Cement Bamboo Frame Technology, which provides safe and sustainable homes for families in need. The Foundation also supports the development and implementation of other solutions to improve the way families live and build.

The Hilti Foundation and Habitat for Humanity are working together to scale Cement Bamboo Frame Fechnology in Nepal and the Philippines. This innovative building method was developed by Base Bahay Foundation, an organization founded by the Hilti Foundation. The homes built using this technology are constructed with specially treated bamboo and cement plaster that makes them disaster-resilient and sustainable.

Globally, an estimated 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing. This has a significant impact not only on their safety and health, but also on their economic opportunities and social integration.

In January 2021, BASE inaugurated the BASE Innovation Center (BIC), a comprehensive research and testing facility for safe, affordable, green and sustainable housing technologies.

In January 2021, the BASE Bahay Foundation opened its BASE Innovation Center (BIC), a research and testing center for bamboo construction and other alternative building materials in Manila, Philippines.

Marissa, 47, is one of the so-called urban poor who are most strongly affected by the pandemic and its economic consequences. Marissa works as a garbage collector in Payatas, a neighborhood in Metro Manila, Philippines which is home to the country’s largest waste site.