Bamboo as Steel

Bamboo is a favored plant among architects and designers because of its incredible strength and durability. One Colombian architect refers to it as nature's steel, but in many respects, it is even better than steel: it is lighter and more flexible, and these qualities make it the ideal building material in areas that suffer earthquakes and severe weather patterns. Construction workers in places such as Hong Kong rely on bamboo scaffolding whatever the height of the tower block they may be working on over a billion people around the world live in a home that is made of bamboo, and China has cultivated the plant for thousands of years. The only drawback of this remarkable product is the cost of transporting it. So for those who live in cooler regions of the world, the enormous advantages of this natural building material are less accessible.