Bamboo Stadium Designs Could Make Stainless Steel Obsolete

Credit: Shanghaiist
Credit: Shanghaiist

In an effort to make a more sustainable structure and make a difference in the architectural world, graduate student Shen Chen is designing one last project that involves building a portable stadium made entirely out of bamboo.

Despite its reputation as the “poor man’s timber” in tropical countries and its purely decorative function in Western countries, bamboo has greater resistance to being pulled apart than steel and withstands compression better than concrete. This could make bamboo the strongest raw material ever.

Credit: Shanghaiist
Credit: Shanghaiist

Designs are still in the works for this stadium, which will be constructed with the ability to take it apart and put it back together again, making it portable. If finished, the construction will be unveiled in De Brettn, a green zone in Amsterdam’s Geuzenveld. The stadium will have three major parts: a roof, a grandstand, and facilities.

Chen has stated that, “In addition to the sustainable value of building with bamboo, the integration of living bamboo into building design may blur the boundary between nature and architecture.”

Her design has already been submitted and shortlisted by Archiprix International as a contender for best graduate architecture project in the world.


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