Current practices and future of structural use of bamboo

There is a growing interest in using bamboo for construction worldwide, primarily because of its fast growth, carbon sequestration and other sustainability benefits. With the recent incorporation of bamboo into a number of national and international structural design codes, it is now possible to safely design buildings using whole-culm bamboo.

The lecture explores gaps in bamboo’s structural behaviour and the progress on the development of a standard for engineered bamboo. The speakers also discuss the potential future use in construction of whole culm bamboo, as well as engineered and semi-engineered bamboo products, and where it might be most appropriate to incorporate this material in construction in different contexts.

This lecture covered key design considerations including:

• The current state of the bamboo construction sector worldwide

• The potential future opportunities for construction

• The barriers towards using this material

Current practices and future of structural use of bamboo

Speakers

Sebastian Kaminski

Associate Structural Engineer, Arup

Sebastian is a specialist on the structural use of bamboo, and runs IStructE and in-country training courses on bamboo internationally. He has published a number of papers and guidance notes on using bamboo appropriately, and was co-author of the latest ISO bamboo design code published in 2021.

David Trujillo

Assistant Professor, Coventry University / Head of Bio-based materials, Atelier One

David has been deeply involved in the development of bamboo codes and standards internationally, including ISO standards. He has numerous publications including the new IStructE bamboo design manual he coauthored with Sebastian.