Starting 'Better Bamboo Buildings'

I am so glad that you have landed here and my hope is that you will help to support and build up this bamboo platform that I am initiating.

Bamboo is booming they say and if the online heat is to be an indicator, this growth will keep increasing. There are many well-executed bamboo buildings out there but there are equally many that are not. I notice that a majority of these show a lack of the most basic design techniques and common sense care required - exposed and unprotected bamboo culms and facades, inadequate sun and rain protection without proper roof overhangs are prime examples. Most of these buildings will deteriorate and require further costly maintenance - something the will not improve bamboo’s reputation as a material. Taking more care by first applying basic bamboo design criteria will lead to better and more long lasting bamboo buildings.

Quality information on bamboo design and construction is out there but it is either sporadic or buried in silos. Sometimes this information is either difficult to source or kept under wraps as ‘trade secrets’ and this I feel roadblocks the bamboo learning journey for many people who want to engage and use bamboo. It can quickly turn them away too.

If you are a current bamboo leader out there, the more open you are to share your skills, knowledge, discoveries and even your mistakes, the faster and wider bamboo will progress. There are some bamboo protagonists who are genuinely and willingly sharing and developing the bamboo sector - but I am sure there are many that can should do more. We should not emulate the timber and steel sectors history and wait for another one hundred years for the industry to grow very slowly through years of apprentice slavery learning, copying or trial and error. In today’s covid-19 language, let’s not flatten the bamboo curve, let’s share and encourage. 

My bamboo immersion started age 10 spending time foraging for choice poles in different bamboo groves to make fishing rods, blowpipes, kites and bird traps. This brought me close to bamboo and it made me familiar with some of its particular characteristics and nuances - in relation to kids play and toy making, of course.

Many years later in working life I find myself as Lead Architect in Ibuku and transitioning from a conventional career into Bali’s unique bamboo tradition and artistry. This immersion into the full spectrum of bamboo building creation in the Green School and Green Village communities reignited and changed me, leading to more varied bamboo pursuits and later to independent bamboo design and education practice.

I aim to post on bamboo design but also share other related bamboo topics that I think will help the many that are seeking information and wanting to learn more. The blogs will be delivered either under these specific bamboo topics below or a combination of them: Culture & History, Design & Technology, Personalities & Buildings . I also request for feedback, suggestions and corrections (where I have strayed) from all of you as it warrants. It will be an interesting to see how this journey unfolds.

For those that are interested, have a look at our Courses & Workshops section for upcoming events and builds.

I would like to thank you for coming on board and encourage you to question and to keep searching. Suggestions for new and better bamboo topics, or proposals to guest-blog are most welcomed. This you can initiate in the ‘comments’ section below each blog or email us. Let’s build up bamboo together.