BAMBOO'S HIDDEN POTENTIAL

Lucas Loo's sustainable startup, Sead Industries, is focused on combating climate change while empowering Orang Asli communities by transforming bamboo into the construction material of the future

- Chong Jinn Xiung

Bamboo, a plant found deep in secondary forests, has immense potential to revolutionise future construction methods. Although technically a type of grass, bamboo has been used for centuries to build houses because of its strength.

Furthermore, bamboo is a highly sustainable material as it grows abundantly and helps absorb more carbon dioxide while releasing oxygen at a higher rate than traditional forests, making it environmentally beneficial.

Today, more architects recognise its aesthetic and practical benefits as a building material. Many have even gained fame from incorporating it into their designs. One architect actively exploring the use of bamboo as a construction material is Lucas Loo, the founder and executive director of Sead Industries.

Like many others, Loo was initially sceptical about bamboo's reputation as a building material. He believed it was primarily a low-cost timber alternative that didn't last long and deteriorated quickly. However, his perspective changed once he researched bamboo and discovered its many uses.

"At some point, I decided to give bamboo a try, and I was really impressed by just how versatile it is. It is one of the most sustainable construction materials available today. It has exceptional tensile strength, which surpasses that of certain steel, and it can withstand extreme weather conditions," he says.

Peninsular Malaysia alone has around 400,000 hectares of naturally grown bamboo in forests. A mature clump of bamboo stands between 50 and 100 feet tall and can grow as much as a metre in a day. "There's nothing else like bamboo out there. There are no structural materials in the forest that we can harvest to increase its carbon sequestration rate. The more you work with it, the more you understand its amazing strengths and weaknesses," says Loo.