Building with Bamboo

Bamboo: a versatile material

Traditionally a building material of hot climate zones in Asia and Latin America, bamboo is increasingly discovered by architects of the Northern hemisphere as well. It is lightweight, highly elastic and ductile, and in addition offers qualities especially in demand in an era of limited resources, renewability and abundant availability. Architects and engineers have significantly widened the applications of bamboo in recent years and today even wide-span bridges can be built from it. Impressed with its technical and aesthetic possibilities, European, Japanese and North American architects have adopted bamboo for a variety of construction tasks, ranging from exclusive private residences to experimental pavilions, and from airy canopies to schools or museums. The book provides a detailed manual for bamboo constructions and presents a broad selection of built examples, among them the spectacular bamboo pavilions of the 2010 Shanghai World Exposition, a parking garage in Leipzig, Germany, the Nomadic Museum in Mexico City and Richard Rogers’ Terminal 4 at Madrid Airport.

• A practical manual for anyone interested in bamboo contructions
• International case studies demonstrate the innovative potential of bamboo
• Written by a leading expert of ecological and sustainable building

Prof. Dr. Gernot Minke is an emeritus professor at Universität Kassel, where he led the Forschungslabor für Experimentelles Bauen.