Last year, Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia, who has built many projects using bamboo, told Dezeen the grass would be " the green steel of the 21st century." A prototype of bamboo-reinforced concrete developed using a grid of bamboo composite reinforcement that is water resistant, non-swelling, and durable As with other grasses the root system remains in the ground, stabilising the soil while new shoots are generated. Unlike timber, bamboo does not require replanting after harvesting. "Yesterday we had a breakthrough – our testing machine was not able to break the material," Hebel said. But rather than use bamboo in its natural state, Hebel developed a way of extracting fibres from the plant and mixing it with 10% organic resin to create a mouldable material.Ĭoncrete reinforced with the material has been undergoing testing at a laboratory in Singapore. "That plant is bamboo." Beams made by combining bamboo composites and concrete are tested for strength by bending them in a machineīamboo, which has extremely high tensile strength, has long been used as a construction material in the developing world. "We found one very interesting plant that grows exactly in those areas where we expect the highest urbanisation rate," he said. Hebel started experimenting with bamboo as part of a research project to give developing countries more sustainable and affordable alternatives to steel, which has to be imported from producing countries that are mostly in the developed world.Īccording to Hebel, 70 per cent of all steel and 90 per cent of all cement is consumed in developing countries. He added: "We started out looking for a replacement for steel but the field of applications is becoming wider." The composite bamboo material team are now testing out the combination of bamboo and concrete "The big advantage of a bamboo fibre is that it is 100 times cheaper than carbon fibe, but it has potentially the same strength." "The material could also be used for car body parts," he said. Related story Bamboo "will replace other materials" in architecture says Vo Trong Nghia
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