In the 1930’s Superman was nicknamed the “man of steel” because back then steel was considered to be the ultimate symbol of strength and durability. Today we’d be more likely to call him the “Man of Bamboo”. With good reason.
In our 21st century scientists, architects, and builders have discovered the new steel for this age… bamboo. Strange as it sounds, bamboos tensile strength and durability match or exceed steel. Our Superman would be proud of the new nickname when he learns of bamboo’s power and feats of strength.
Spanning the River Min in Saechuan is the largest suspension bridge in the world, held together entirely by bamboo cables. Metal detectors won’t find any iron or nails on the entire bridge structure. A bamboo bridge sounds far fetched until you learn how effectively the ancient and modern Chinese have harnessed the power of bamboo. Bamboo cables were the earliest structural element in the history of engineering to be used for suspension bridges, which originated in China and the Himalayas. A bamboo cable 2-inch diameter can support 4 tons and these ancient bridges spanned distances up to 76 meters without central supports.
AP Photo - William Fernando Martinez
Bridges aren’t the only structures where bamboo proves it strength. “Anything built with steel, I can do in bamboo faster and just as cheaply,” said Colombian architect Simon Velez. He should know, Velez created the largest bamboo structure ever built: the 55,200-square-foot Nomadic Museum, a temporary building that recently debuted in Mexico City and takes up half of the Zocalo, Latin America’s largest plaza.
Building is only part of bamboo’s wonders, durability is another. Jules Janssen was in Costa Rica in 1991 when a deadly 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck. Touring the epicenter hours later, he found every brick and concrete building had collapsed.
“But 20 bamboo structures built there by coincidence held up marvelously. There wasn’t a single crack,” said Janssen, a civil engineer and expert on bamboo’s physical properties.
Bamboo proves its worth not just as a building material but as an inspirational design as well. Taipei is home to the tallest skyscraper in the world. The whole design is based on a bamboo shoot because of the Chinese belief system with bamboo.
Add versatility to bamboo’s list of talents, as displayed by the bamboo organ of Las Pinas built in 1824. This is definitely not a reed instrument, yet it creates a powerful musical voice. Bamboo is the key element in an organ that can create notes light as air or make music that can pound your socks off.
Superman might think “the man of steel” is catchier, but “the man of bamboo” is all about strength and style.
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Simon Velez and his good Friend Builder Inventor author Marcelo Villegas, started the bamboo building revolution in modern terms . They have over 500 structures to their credit. It began because of a serious earth quake in The Coffee Region in Colombia the epicenter being Armenia. It was discovered there that many of the steel concrete reinforced structures failed and the ancient edifices built out of bamboo and survived. Many of the structures that survived were built in the turn of the century with a system called “Bhareque”. Guadua Bamboo poles are used as the frame work and crushed bamboo sheets were used in place of lath. The walls are then covered with a natural plaster which is responsible for their longevity. “A bamboo structure needs a hat an shoes ” only when bamboo is protected from the elements will survive so bamboo has to be used with caution. The 20 structures in Costa Rica were not built there coincidental they were built as a result of Costa Rican program for the creation of low income housing, and new incentives to plant the non native Guadua Angustifoila from Colombia and Guadua Atlantica as a result of data from several universities and Simon Velez and Marcelo Villegas successful work.
Excellent information Will! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I also took a peek at your website and you offer wonderful bamboo building materials and structures. So for those of you interested, check out http://www.koolbamboo.com.
Thanks Will!
Simon Velez and Marcelo Villegas are the contemporary heroes of the bamboo revolution, and they deserve all the respect.
There are few others who were done tremendous contribution to bring bamboo building to the level it reached. To chose one name: Oscar Hidalgo Lopez who teaches for so many years how to do it with bamboo. He wrote the new bible: “Bamboo- the plant of the gods”, a must book for anyone who works with this plant.
Still, there’s a lot more to do in terms of making bamboo a standard building material. Preservation and joinery methods are the main issues.
More great information from Ran at http://www.bamboocenter.net. Thanks so much for sharing this info and letting people know about this book!
Nice story! Thanks for sharing. Cheers from Seattle.
Thanks for allowing my comments. Just a note, Oscars Book is,” Bamboo , The Gift Of The Gods”, an interpretation of the indigenous translation for the word Guadua. Preservation and stability with non toxic materials is a huge topic in the bamboo world, it is a whole other posting and a half. Great Discussion! Thanks
p.s. Bahareque is the correct spelling of that word, sorry
Hey Corey – In traditional Asian culture, bamboo symbolizes characters of gentlemanlike, straightforwardness, hard working, optimism, unity and adaptableness. In feng shui, bamboo is considered to be the element of longevity.
After reading your article, all of these sounds true…no wonder why bamboo is the new superman!
Those old folks certainly knew a bit about what they were doing!
Props – Awesome information~
The ability for bamboo to house people is the most important part. As resources get thin, and more and more people populated this earth, accumulating enough housing materials will be daunting. The amazing thing about bamboo is that it absorbs more carbon then trees and grows faster. We are currently undergoing a design to build the rural home for India out of bamboo. Our website is wondergrass.blogspot.com please check us out, we welcome input from all fields, and would love to collaborate with people who believe in the future of bamboo.
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