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Bamboo in Construction:
Is the Grass Always Greener?
This summary is a shortened, condensed version of the Full Article.
Executive Summary
Over the last ten years, bamboo has gained popularity as an alternative construction material in a number of green building markets. The rapid growth of the bamboo plant combined with the versatility, strength, and hardness of mature bamboo make it an appealing material for everything from paper and cutting boards to flooring and structural components. This article discusses the benefits and concerns of using bamboo as a building material.
Harvesting mature bamboo does not harm the roots of the plant, and its rapid growth rate—in some cases up to two feet per day—is legendary. Its mechanical strength is comparable to concrete and steel in some applications, and its hardness comparable to that of red oak, making it especially appealing as a flooring material. Currently, a number of American retailers market solid bamboo flooring, engineered bamboo-on-wood-substrate flooring, and compressed bamboo fiber flooring, as well as bamboo plywood.
Despite bamboo’s potential to displace consumption of more environmentally intensive forest products, there is also cause for environmental concern. The expanding market for bamboo has resulted in forests being cleared and replaced by more profitable bamboo plantations, potentially reducing biodiversity and soil health. Almost all bamboo used in America is grown and manufactured into consumer products in China, and the process can involve toxic bonding agents, finishes, and preservatives. Transporting products from manufacturers in Asia to builders in North America adds embodied energy and environmental costs to the material. While some bamboo products have qualified for their rapidly renewable content and low emissions, environmental qualities vary by product and manufacturer. Future regulation of bamboo growing and processing, as well as third-party certification of the finished products, holds the potential to bolster bamboo’s claims as a green building material.
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A discussion on Bamboo in Construction should include reference to its use a temporary construction material.
Instead of tubular steel scaffolding, many Hong Kong buiding contractors prefer bamboo. Bamboo poles are easily transported to the site and erected into scaffolding quickly, and it is still common to see bamboo lattice completely cover even one of the highest buildings in Kowloon or Causeway Bay.
Bamboo is also the primary structural element for Cantonese opera houses and other temporary pavilions used in regious festivals.
Such edifices form an important part of Hong Kong's vernacular architecture, and their complex forms require the guidance of a "Bamboo Master".
Since bamboo poles are light, they can be carried to locations that would otherwise be inaccessible. Furthermore, Hong Kong builders realize that the structural properties of bamboo make it a suitable choice for the most topographically-challenging site.
Temporary bamboo structures may be found throughout Hong Kong, squeezed into pocket parks inside high density public housing estates, or perched next to an ancient shrine on a remote island outcrop.