As a building material

}In its natural form, bamboo as a construction material is traditionally associated with the cultures
of South Asia, East Asia and the South Pacific, to some extent in Central and South America, and by
extension in the aesthetic of Tiki culture. In China and India, bamboo was used to hold up simple
suspension bridges, either by making cables of split bamboo or twisting whole culms of sufficiently
pliable bamboo together. One such bridge in the area of Qian-Xian is referenced in writings dating
back to 960 AD and may have stood since as far back as the third century BC, due largely to
continuous maintenance.

Bamboo has also long been used as scaffolding; the practice has been banned in China for
buildings over six stories, but is still in continuous use for skyscrapers in Hong Kong.[6]In the
Philippines, the nipa hut is a fairly typical example of the most basic sort of housing where
bamboo is used; the walls are split and woven bamboo, and bamboo slats and poles may be used
as its support. In Japanese architecture, bamboo is used primarily as a supplemental and/or
decorative element in buildings such as fencing, fountains, grates and gutters, largely due to the
ready abundance of quality timber

Cheap and easy

Today, bamboo costs less than a quarter as much, by weight, as steel reinforcement. And because
steel is 15 times denser than natural bamboo, the figures by volume are even more extreme. In
South-East Asia alone, there is enough bamboo already in cultivation to meet equivalent demand
for construction steel 25 times over.

Bamboo largely grows in developing countries which, with this new technology, could potentially
develop substantial value chains. Farmers, collection centres, distributors and, finally, production
facilities could form a strong economic power so long as the bamboo is not simply exported as a
raw material.

Developing countries must develop and sustain knowledge and industrial know-how in order to
strengthen their economic capacities. The production of a high-strength building material could
establish strong new rural-urban linkages and create an alternative source of revenue for farmers.
Expanding cultivation would help farmers in other ways, too; due to its fast growth, bamboo can
secure open soil and protect it against erosion. Being a grass, bamboo also keeps the water table
high and therefore improves the productivity of adjacent fields planted with food crops.

Bamboo could play an important role not only as a traditional construction resource but also as
the major component of an industrialised product, enabling the creation of a smoke-free
industry in developing nations.
This impressive Guadua Bamboo Car Park at the Slotervaart Medical
Center in Amsterdam is the second of its kind but the largest we have
built up until now. The multi-storey car park has 5 levels, a total surface
area of 3200 m2 and can currently accommodate nearly 1200 cars. In
coming years the project will be further expanded with additional and
similar structures.
Parque Natural Regional El Vnculo, Colombia

Parque Natural Regional El Vnculo is with its 80 hectares the largest ecological reserve of
dry tropical forest in the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. The park has a small
collection of 27 tropical bamboos and a beautiful Guadua Bamboo structure (which was
built 20 years ago) overseeing more than 225,000 hectares of sugar cane plantations .