Home

Bamboo Homes

Bamboo Style

Bamboo Resorts

Steps to Purchase

Details Finishes

Architect Services

Bamboo Products Catalog

About Bamboo

Certification and Research

About Us

Contact Us

Links

Bamboo Living

2007 International
Bamboo Building
Design Competition

Bamboo Technologies was created in 1995 as a result of a common vision held by an entrepreneur, an architect, and a builder. Doug Lewis, “the entrepreneur” formed Bamboo Hardwoods, teaming up with Jeffree Trudeau, “the builder”, and owner of Isle Builders, and David Sands, “the architect” and owner of EcoArchitects. Later they brought in Jim Rossi for business management. The vision they share is to create an environmentally sustainable housing alternative in the building industry.

Bamboo was chosen because of its superior ability to recreate biomass and replenish the earth’s clean oxygen supply. Vietnam was chosen because of its long history of using and managing sustainable bamboo forests. We have created what is now the only manufacturing facility of this type of bamboo housing on the planet.

The prototype of a bamboo home built as a permitted structure in the Western building system was completed by David Sands and Jeffree Trudeau in 1996 in Maui, Hawaii. It was prefabricated on site with the first poles shipped over from Vietnam. These poles were all pressure treated with boric acid and coated with a clear no-VOC finish. To this day they look the same as the day they were erected.

This dwelling has no sign of termites, powder post beetle or rot in any of the bamboo poles. It is located in a very harsh environment of warm wet weather and high winds coming off the ocean. We have already had to patch some of the deck boards that were built with conventional lumber. The house has been used as a vacation rental since it was finished.

The next five structures were prefabricated in Vietnam and were erected one year later on another property in the same area of Maui. These homes are also used as vacation rentals and have been conditionally permitted based on the completion of ICBO Testing results on bamboo. From 2000 to the present, seven new prototypes have been erected as showroom models and vacation rentals in Maui, Hawaii.

In 1999 BT took the first steps towards an internationally accepted quality control system and design criteria for the use of bamboo as a structural design element in the housing industry. We funded and initiated an Evaluation Criteria Report with the International Congress of Building Officials (ICBO).

Structural Bamboo Certification. The ICC Evaluation Service Report ESR-1636 (Nov. 2004) states that Structural Bamboo Poles produced by Bamboo Technologies comply with the following codes: 2003 International Building Code (IBC), 2003 International Residental Code (IRC) and 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC). Certified bamboo produced by BT will be available for architects, designers and builders.

Bamboo Technologies is committed to the implementation of an environmentally sustainable building system, which is both cost effective and user friendly. These structures can be owner built and soon will be certified by local building officials as meeting all requirements for hurricane and seismic loadings in temperate climates. We are currently working with insulated wall panel designs, which will be implemented within the next 2 years. We also specialize in putting together customized projects and community efforts to implement Bamboo Villages.

Our goal in the next few years is to initiate as many factory locations as possible around the world to create the necessary homes to satisfy customer requests. We will consult with larger manufacturers to begin using more Engineered Bamboo Products. We will work together with plantation owners to develop the particular species most adapted to the building industry. We will create another option for each of us to consider as we raise our families on this planet together in homes that support the Ecosphere.