Bamboo Structures for the 21st Century

However, numerous technical and cultural challenges have so far prevented its widespread use in construction. As it operates today, the construction sector will not be able to meet this demand based only on the energy-intensive building materials developed during the last century for a very different world. Steel, concrete and aluminium, the three main construction materials, are already responsible for almost 50% of all global industrial CO2 emissions and demand is expected to double by 2050.

This research re-examines the structural use of natural bamboo culms (thick stems) against the context of the digital age, postulating a new design and fabrication framework to support the construction of high-quality, sustainable and resilient bamboo structures suitable for the 21st century.

This framework is based on a new high-tech, low-energy design approach, centred on managing – as opposed to forcibly eliminating – the inherent variability of bamboo, based on the use of modern 3D scanning and digital fabrication technologies. A technological framework that supports expressive, high-quality designs incorporating a rational use of bamboo is required, in order to increase acceptance of bamboo as a sustainable and attractive construction material.