The Bamboo Overlook

Hi, my name is Preston. Originally born in the US, I grew up in Hong Kong and have always enjoyed building things. My first (and only) bamboo structure was the bamboo house I made for my dog.

I work in the urban farming industry, so the sustainability aspect of bamboo cultivation interests me. I dream of one day starting a bamboo farm and building bamboo structures on the land. I joined Bamboo U to get a head start on the long process of learning ahead.

I learned pretty much everything I know about bamboo through this course. It has given me confidence that bamboo has a future filled with massive potential, and the inspiration to be a part of it.

The structure is roughly 7x11x4 meters. It is a multi-use structure that overlooks a fertile tropical landscape, and can be used as a: camping shelter, picnic spot, gathering place, bird watching hut or meditation space.

I wanted to build a fairly simple, organic structure, but quickly realized that it’s more difficult than it looks to bring an idea from paper to life. You can’t rely on any of the simple right angle joints of normal carpentry. I started out with getting the basic frame as close as I could to the drawing, and then just letting the bamboo guide me from there. Most of the support pieces were all added on the fly, as I tested what pieces were needed structurally to give strength and flexibility to the model. Since this structure is intended to be built on a slope, I built a platform as well to give the project more dimension.