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Schools, Airports, High-Rise Towers: Architects Urged To Get 'Bamboo-Ready' (theguardian.com) 88

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it's time we took it seriously as a building material, too.

This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be "bamboo-ready" as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.

Bamboo has already been used for a number of boundary-pushing projects around the world. At Terminal 2 of Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru, India, bamboo tubes make up the ceiling and pillars. The Ninghai bamboo tower in north-east China, which is more than 20 metres tall, is claimed to be the world's first high-rise building made using engineered bamboo.

At the Green School in Bali, a bamboo-made arc serves as the gymnasium and a striking example of how the material is reshaping sustainable architecture. The use of composite bamboo shear walls have proved to be resilient against earthquakes and extreme weather in countries such as Colombia and the Philippines, where sustainable, disaster-resilient housing has been built with locally sourced materials.
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Schools, Airports, High-Rise Towers: Architects Urged To Get 'Bamboo-Ready' More

Schools, Airports, High-Rise Towers: Architects Urged To Get 'Bamboo-Ready'

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  • China (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas

    Bamboo has been used in scaffolding for a century.
    But its use is being phased-out because of fire concerns.

  • This report brought to you by (Score:5, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:20PM (#65942306)

    Big Bamboo.

  • Maybe let's start with some low-rise towers and see how it goes.

  • What The Fuck (Score:3)

    by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:29PM (#65942326)
    Are you seriously posting this now after 5 tower blocks were burnt down by their bamboo scaffolding ?

    Ignorant or demented ?

    • Re:What The Fuck (Score:5, Funny)

      by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:38PM (#65942344)
      If they used asbestos the buildings would probably be still standing.

    • I understand that we have had some very serious fires in buildings that use wood, too.
      Can you explain to us why we don't stop completely using wood as well?
      By your logic, any use of wood for anything after the 1666 Great Fire of London was pure idiocy
      Concrete and steel should have been banned after the 9/11 building collapses, as those proved unsafe to you as well I suppose?

      • That's a good point, we should do that.

        I know you were being facetious to make a point, but really the ongoing use of flammable and mold-susceptible materials in housing is wasteful and disgusting. It's a danger to both the residents and their neighbors. What year is it?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )
        • 1851 - San Francisco Fire
        • 1852 - Great Montreal Fire
        • 1889 - Great Seattle Fire
        • 1889 - Great Spokane Fire
        • 1889 - Great Ellensburg Fire

        ... and many others [wikipedia.org].

      • That concert and steel did pretty damn well given 200 tons of plane doing 200 mph with 100 tons of fuel hit it. A wooden building wouldn't even get that high without collapsing under it's own weight so fuck knows what point you're making.

        • I read somewhere that wooden buildings are generally rated to only about 7 stories. So as you say, there won't be any high rise buildings.

        • Definitely not 100 tons of fuel. A 767-200ER can only load maybe two thirds of that and since both were heading from BOS to LAX, they most likely had less than 25 tons of fuel loaded each. Also a 767-200ER MTOW is more like 180 tons and since both planes were half empty, their weight was most likely nowhere near MTOW.

      • Really ?!

        > By your logic, any use of wood for anything after the 1666 Great Fire of London was pure idiocy"

        London banned the use of wood after the Fire of London:

        "all houses or buildings, whether great or small, were to be built only in brick or stone – if new houses were built of other materials they would be pulled down, meaning no more building with wood and thatch*.
        [...]
        * The only exception is the modern reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, opened in 1997. The 16

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It has to be properly treated to be fire resistant. Engineered bamboo is not dissimilar to other woods, in that with the right treatment it is fire safe.

  • A highrise in Hong Kong that burned up that had a lot of bamboo in it burn up recently?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      A highrise in Hong Kong that burned up that had a lot of bamboo in it burn up recently?

      No. They had a high-rise with a lot of bamboo scaffolding around it and very flammable foam covering windows go up.

  • Look this is impressive, and I'm all for carbon-friendly building materials. But a 20 m tall building is hardly a "high-rise."

  • Bamboo and Fire (Score:3)

    by LuniticusTheSane ( 1195389 ) on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:43PM (#65942356)
    Did everyone forget the fire in Hong Kong less than two months ago that killed dozens because of bamboo construction? Bamboo has a lot of points going for it, but they better keep its flammability in mind if we don't want another disaster like that to happen.

    • Re:Bamboo and Fire (Score:4, Funny)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 ) on Thursday January 22, 2026 @03:01PM (#65942420)
      This! There is a reason wood is banned as a building material folks!

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        wood is banned as a building material

        Not in the USA [rismedia.com].

        P.S. Slashdot is yet again trying to pull some suspect content from the report.error-report.com site (a scam site). Cut it out.

        • Always makes me sigh when I see yet another news report of a fire or tornado in the usa with some homeowner standing in the smouldering or smashed wreckage wondering what they could have done to prevent it. Meanwhile behind them theres always a brick or concrete chimney still standing. Hmm... clue maybe?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by EvilSS ( 557649 )
            Yep, this is why there are no building fires in Europe. Zero! And yet the US still uses wood.
            • China has lots of bamboo to sell and (/.) has lots of Chinese agent posters pimping the ride for ANY action favorable to the CCP. Thus the bamboo skyscraper meme pretends to serious consideration rather than being laughed out of the building-crane ( or should I say 'go up in flames' ) . House flooring is of-course a different matter; bamboo floors are attractive and sturdy.

              • China has lots of bamboo to sell and (/.) has lots of Chinese agent posters pimping the ride for ANY action favorable to the CCP. Thus the bamboo skyscraper meme pretends to serious consideration rather than being laughed out of the building-crane ( or should I say 'go up in flames' ) . House flooring is of-course a different matter; bamboo floors are attractive and sturdy.

                Why wouldn't we grow and process it here. I don't want to oversimplify by saying it's just grass, but there's no reason local production wouldn't grow with demand. Unless it's one of those things there's just barely any money in at any scale, and I'd have to ask what exactly is the problem importing things like that, go down the line to another partner like Vietnam if China is a problem. You're not giving a good reason to avoid bamboo.

          • I grew up in Puerto Rico, almost every house and building that has gone up since the 1970s is made of concrete. I was shocked at all the houses in CONUS made out of drywall and prayers.
            • To be fair, brick buildings and concrete buildings (or more technically known in California as unreinforced masonry buildings) are banned because of the earthquake risk. I would imagine concrete buildings, when not properly built, have similar issues. Wood flexes with the earthquake, and is generally a better material for areas that are at earthquake risk.

      • Well played!

    • Which is not a concern when it is used in place of steel rebar. A job it does quite well.

      • If you read the article, it's not talking about replacing rebar with bamboo. It's about using bamboo in a much more substantial way.

        • Oh, I know. Though for the most part it just looked like building things out of wood that we used to build out of wood or still do build out of wood.

          • But, of course, Bamboo isn't wood, but grass. https://www.stikwood.com/blogs... [stikwood.com]

            • A grass can be made of wood, and bamboo is largely comprised of xylem - aka, wood. And it is decidedly woody, unlike grasses such as corn, wheat, or rice.

              Let's review the film: https://youtu.be/gC4zJSY1ylw?s... [youtu.be]

              • Sorry, YouTube is not a source, it's a soapbox.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by tragedy ( 27079 )

                  You have a point about YouTube (not that good information can't be found there, but still, you have to take Sturgeon's Law and ramp the 90% to up past 99%). Also, all complex plants have Xylem and Phloem. Only things like moss, etc. don't. Even ferns have xylem and those are generally not considered wood. The actual definition is a bit tricky though. The presence of lignin is necessary, but not sufficient usually to be considered wood (ferns also have lignin, for example). Lignin is basically a composite ma

            • Bamboo is a gras. Yes. So it is not a tree. Agreed.
              But Bamboo is most certainly wood.

              • Colloquially, yes. But it is not wood as defined by biologists.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

                • No idea which part of Wikipedia your read:

                  Monocots

                  Trunks of the coconut palm, a monocot, in Java. From this perspective these look not much different from trunks of a dicot or conifer
                  Structural material that resembles ordinary, "dicot" or conifer timber in its gross handling characteristics is produced by a number of monocot plants, and these also are colloquially called wood. Of these, bamboo, botanically a member of the grass family, has considerable economic importance, larger culms being widely used as a building and construction material and in the manufacture of engineered flooring, panels and veneer. Another major plant group that produces material that often is called wood are the palms. Of much less importance are plants such as Pandanus, Dracaena and Cordyline. With all this material, the structure and composition of the processed raw material is quite different from ordinary wood.

                  It clearly is wood. Behaves like wood, looks like wood, is made up from the same material as wood and termites agree :P (unfortunately)

                  For example the main component Lignin, is the same, the sugars are the same. The only thing distinguishing it from northern trees, is the lack of year rings. That means obviously the whole trunk versus grass thing is big thing.

                  But otherwise, make pulp from it, and then paper, or what ever you want: you need a genetical kit to figure

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by tragedy ( 27079 )

                    It walks (rolls?) like a wooden duck, quacks like a... Do wooden ducks quack? Maybe well made ones, but are the components that do the quacking made of pure wood? Does that still count? Anyway. You're certainly right that for all intents and purposes, at least related to structural uses, burning it as firewood, etc. it might as well be called wood. Officially though, it is woodlike rather than being wood because true wood grows in rings, which monocots don't.

                  • My link literally highlighted the specific words in Wikipedia that I was quoting. Perhaps you didn't bother to click the link?

                    • I copied and cited to you the relevant part of the link.

                      So, did you read it or not? Or what exactly do yo want to debate?

                      Bamboo wood, is wood. In every point of view, just like wood from trees is wood.

                      Clearly written in your link ...

                    • Yes, I read the part you cited. It said bamboo is "colloquially called wood." It's right there, at the beginning of the boldface word "bamboo." That phrase, "colloquially called" means that it isn't actually wood, but people informally refer to it as such. So yes, good citation.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

      Bamboo is more flame resistant than regular woods and burns slower. And that's without any extra kinds of treatment. So, technically, it would still be an upgrade.

      • That is nonsense. Bamboo is full with easy burning oils.

        Bamboo burns like a fire work.

        Of course you can/should treat it. E.g. to make it termite proof. And with that you also increase fire resistance.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

          No. It literally does not have volatile oils. Bamboo is high is silica and water content. It is naturally fire resistant - not fireproof, but better than most other regular wood. Dead and dried, it'll burn pretty much like anything else, though slower, but alive it's better than most living trees at resisting fire.

          Treated bamboo can, and does, reach Class A/Euroclass B rating for fire resistance.

          • Treated bamboo can, and does, reach Class A/Euroclass B rating for fire resistance.

            Correct, and if it is not treated: it is full oil and burns like a torch.

            I used to have a farm in Thailand, there is no such thing as natural fire resistant bamboo, it even burns if it is fully soaked with water.

            Anyway, not important. I know bamboo as I have 20 different kinds: and you don't. /FACEPALM

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

              it is full oil

              Tell me exactly which type of oil specifically. Because there aren't any.

              I used to have a farm in Thailand

              Congrats. That does not make you knowledgeable on the topic.

              it even burns if it is fully soaked with water

              No, it doesn't. It's not made of magnesium or other alkali metals.

              I know bamboo as I have 20 different kinds:

              There is over 1000 species of bamboo and you know nothing about it.

    • While bamboo is not entirely inflammable, the Hong Kong fire that you cited was primarily caused by the use of netting that was not fire-retardant, for cost-cutting reasons. The bamboo scaffolding itself largely resisted ignition. The fire was able to spread quickly because of the netting. Bamboo just doesn't catch and spread fire at such a rate.

      Sources:

      https://www.nytimes.com/2025/1... [nytimes.com]
      https://www.bbc.com/news/artic... [bbc.com]
      https://apnews.com/article/hon... [apnews.com]

  • "For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas"

    Tell us you're a five year old westerner without telling us.

  • The Professor: "At last, my hour has come!"

  • In some ways, one could look at bamboo as low grade carbon fiber when used with a resin binder.

  • Then you get to hide in a concrete building and watch your home get washed down the street.
  • Apparently bamboo has some health benefits [sciencedaily.com] when eaten.

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