Being a plant with such a diverse repertoire, bamboo has an edge over a lot of different other plants due to its multifaceted utilities. A few common uses of the plant are:
• Food
• Furniture (Seats, tables, baskets)
• Furniture as a standalone plant(s)
• Toilet paper, sold here at Tiboo Bamboo!
Did you know bamboo also finds use in the construction sector?
Bamboo is flexible, lightweight, durable, fast in growth, and also earthquake resistant which makes it an ideal material for the construction sector – yet you likely wouldn’t assume it! A common misconception about bamboo is that it isn’t strong or stiff because of how easily it can bend, which could not be further from the truth. Referring to the picture at the top of this page, you can see bamboo being used in tandem with wood as a support system and also acting as a banister which would have to take a human’s weight at multiple different pressure points throughout the construction.
Use of bamboo in construction
A notable use of bamboo in construction is over in Vietnam. The record-breaking “Tra Su bamboo bridge” set the world record for the Longest Bamboo Bridge on the 15th of January 2020 in the astounding Tra Su cajuput forest of the An Giang Province. With an unbelievable length of 10km, holding up a newfound culture of fascinated tourists, any misconceptions about bamboo’s durability are blown completely out of the water.
Now going over to Bali in Indonesia. The Green School, which boasts an award-winning bamboo campus, homes a structure named “The Arc”. This building is made up of 14-meter-tall bamboo arches which span a mighty 19 meters, joined by anticlastic grid shells which obtain their strength from curving in two opposite directions. Giving a nod to the way the human ribcage is held in place by the tension of the muscles and skin around it, bamboo proves its worthiness in the domain of architecture and construction. Just browsing pictures of the structure will completely shock you on how bamboo can bend into certain shapes yet still keep a desirable level of strength to stay standing up in the way it does.
Woven bamboo to create a canopy
Shanghai-based Architecture house “LLLab” used woven bamboo to create a canopy and a group of pod-like pavilions to shelter any visitors for their “Impression Sanjie Liu Light Show”, displayed upon the beautiful limestone mountains of Guilin overlooking the Li River based in Yangshuo, China. On the island site where the canopy and pavilions are based, there was already a large amount of bamboo naturally covering the area. They decided to utilise the natural resources around them to create their iconic piece yet also compliment the natural environment around them.
Canopies, record-breaking bridges, and arched structures are just three of the amazing structures that bamboo has been the bones of around the world, providing purpose to the communities in which they are situated.
Maybe, if other natural resources were to falter, we could incorporate bamboo into our daily lives and architecture here in the UK? Here at Tiboo Bamboo, we understand the importance of alternative materials in which we could make small transitions to make big differences. We invite you to explore our website to browse our range of bamboo toilet paper and bamboo kitchen roll and to understand why we do what we do.