The building material of choice for the 21st century just might be bamboo.
This hollow-stemmed grass isn't just for flimsy tropical huts anymore — it's getting outsized attention in the world of serious architecture.
From Hawai'i to Vietnam, it's used to build everything from luxury homes and holiday resorts to churches and bridges.
Boosters call it "vegetal steel," with clear environmental appeal. Lighter than steel but five times stronger than concrete, bamboo is native to every continent except Europe and Antarctica.
And unlike slow-to-harvest timber, bamboo's woody stalks can shoot up several feet a day, absorbing four times as much world-warming carbon dioxide.
"The relationship to weight and resistance is the best in the world. Anything built with steel, I can do in bamboo faster and just as cheaply," said Colombian architect Simon Velez, who created the largest bamboo structure ever built.
More :
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/bamboo-is-catching-on-among-green-architects/
