Considering it’s the world’s most naturally sustainable and versatile building material, it’s not surprising that bamboo has been used for centuries in the construction of housing and public works.
Now, with the current consumer focus on climate change and sustainability, bamboo is set to be a key player in the construction industry (and many other industries) in the future as well.
While this has encouraged an ever-growing trend bamboo usage in commercial and residential construction overseas (particularly in France), perplexingly, Australia has yet to fully jump on board.
The study of bamboo
However, with the University of Tasmania recently announcing it will be offering a PhD in Prefabricated Bamboo Housing, bamboo might just be about to get its moment in the Australian sun.
The newly created PhD will cover a case study where laminated bamboo elements are used to create prefabricated housing stock, and the process of manufacturing this product will also be documented from harvest to construction.
The course will pay particular attention to pushing bamboo beyond what it has been ‘traditionally capable of’ by developing new methods of connection and treatment.
An innovative substance
This course is the latest in a growing list of studies already being offered by universities around the world on the potential uses of bamboo.
In India, for example, the National Institute of Technology in Nagpur has announced a bamboo curriculum for BArch students. It’s the first time bamboo will be added to an engineering degree course in that country.
“Of the six units in the BArch course, one will be dedicated to bamboo right from the first year,” explains Dr Pramod M Padole, Director of VNIT. “In the third year, it will be an elective subject.”
Meanwhile, the University of British Columbia in Canada has already established a multidisciplinary research group in the Faculty of Forestry to focus on the “structural properties, industrial applications and innovative uses” of bamboo, as well as its social, environmental and cultural potential.
“Bamboo is a vitally important non-timber forest product,” says Professor John Innes, Dean of the Faculty, “and while its value has been recognised for centuries, it is only today that we are beginning to realise how some of its properties can best be utilised.”
There are even more courses and PhDs in sustainable bamboo at universities in Taiwan, University College London and Frankfurt Summer University, among others.
Sustainable and versatile
Having worked with bamboo in both commercial and residential construction in Australia since 1972, House of Bamboo CEO Jennifer Snyders, one of Australia’s leading experts on bamboo, welcomes the fact that the academic world is starting to embrace the study of bamboo and its many multifaceted benefits across a range of industries.
“We believe bamboo is very much the building material of the future,” she explains, “and we’re looking forward to its versatility and sustainability being recognised on a larger scale in many industries in Australia.