This book describes the distribution of bamboo forest and bamboo species for construction, the types and characteristics of both engineered and natural full-culm bamboo materials for construction, the development history and research status of different forms of bamboo architecture.

Mrs. K. W. Liu is the Coordinator of Global Bamboo Construction Programme at the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR). She was born in 1981 in Sichuan, China. She graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University with master degree in Structural Engineering and is now a Ph.D candidate of Department of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University. Since 2008, she has been working on promoting bamboo construction around the world. She managed around 20 international bamboo construction projects in Asia, America, Africa and Europe. Mrs. Liu is managing the INBAR Construction Task Force, comprising more than 30 bamboo construction experts from around 20 countries. As the Convener of Working Group 12 on Structural Use of Bamboo within the Timber Structures Technical Committee of International Organization for Standardization (ISO TC165 WG12), she is working on the development and revision of 5 international standards of bamboo construction currently. She is also actively participating in the development of 6 technical standards for bamboo construction in China. Her academic achievements include more than 20 peer-reviewed papers, the book Contemporary Bamboo Architecture in China in Chinese as the first author, the academic conference proceedings Modern Engineered Bamboo Structures in English as one editor-in-chief, and the Chinese-language version of the English book Sustainable Building in Practice: What the Users Think as the first translator. Mrs. Liu is one of the experts in three committees “Timber and Composite Structures Committee” of China Association for Engineering Construction Standardisation, “Timber and Bamboo Structures Committee” and “Sustainable Civil Engineering Committee” organized by Chinese Society for Urban Studies in China.

Dr. Q. F. Xu is Chief Engineer of Shanghai Research Institute of Building Sciences Co., Ltd (SRIBS) and Academic Leader of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Engineering Structure Safety. He is Professor of Engineering, Shanghai Subject Chief Scientist, Excellent Technical Leader of Shanghai, National First Class Registered Structural Engineer and Registered Consulting Engineer. He was born in 1973 in Jiangsu, China. In 2001, Dr. Xu graduated from Southeast University with a doctoral degree in structural engineering. He has been engaged in the research and technical service of wood and bamboo structure design and construction, performance improvement, maintenance and reinforcement for over 20 years. He is member of INBAR Construction Task Force and ISO TC 165. His academic achievements include: more than 150 academic papers including more than 50 SCI/EI cited papers; 6 editor-in-chief technical standards and 12 participated technical standards; 14 authorised national invention patents; 5 Second-Class Prize and two Third-Class Prize of Shanghai Scientific and Technological Progress Award, and two First-Class Prize, one Second-Class Prize and one Third-Class Prize of Huaxia Architectural Science and Technology Award.

Dr. G. Wang is a Professor and the Head of Research Group of Bamboo Fiber Composite Materials of New Biomass Materials Institute at International Center for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR). He is a provincial and ministerial candidate for “Millions of Talents Project in the New Century”, and project leader of the 13th Five-Year Plan in China. Born in 1965, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, he graduated from Northeast Forestry University in 1988 with a bachelor degree and from the Department of Wood Science and Technology at the Chinese Academy of Forestry in 2003 with a doctorate degree in engineering. He has been engaged in processing technology research and product development of bamboo and wood composite materials for a long time. He presided over the completion of more than 30 national projects related to bamboo and wood structural materials, and bamboo fiber-based composites. His academic achievements include: more than 140 academic papers including more than 50 SCI/EI cited papers;10 editor-in-chief national or industrial standards; one editor-in-chief monograph and 3 participated monographs, 9 provincial and ministerial scientific and technological appraisal and recognition achievements and 20 authorized national patents; one First Prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award, two First Prize and two Second Prize of Liang Xi Forestry Science and Technology Award, and two Second Prize of Society of Wood Science & Technology. 

Dr. F. M. Chen is Associate Professor of ICBR, Visiting Scholar at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and Secretary of National Key Research Projects. He was born in 1985, Anhui, China. He graduated in 2014 from the Department of Science and Engineering of Bamboo-Based Composite Material at the Chinese Academy of Forestry with a doctorate and his tutor is Professor Jiang Zehui. Dr. Chen is engaged in the research and development of new bamboo fibre composite materials and their application in prefabricated buildings. He presided over and participated in 6 national and provincial-level projects. His academic achievements include: more than 30 peer-reviewed papers, including 20 SCI/EI cited papers; co-authored two English and one Chinese monographs; 10 authorised national patents for inventions and practical new models; one Scientific and Technological Achievement recognised by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, one Scientific and Technological Achievement of China Society of Forestry, one First Prize of Liang Xi Forestry Science and Technology Award, one Second Prize of Maoyisheng Wood Science Award and one Third Prize of Liang Xi Excellent Youth Paper Award.

Dr. Y.B. Leng is Senior Engineer of SRIBS. She is also the National First Class Registered Structural Engineer. She was born in 1988 in Anhui, China. In 2017, she graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a doctoral degree in structural engineering. She is currently a researcher of SRIBS, mainly engaged in the research and technical service of wood and bamboo structural design, construction and durability. She has presided over and participated in more than 10 national, provincial and ministerial projects, and academic achievements include: more than 30 academic papers including 12 SCI/EI cited papers; 6 participated technical standards and 15 applied or authorised national invention patents; and sponsored by Shanghai Rising-Star program. She is also member of ISO TC 165.

Dr. J. Yang is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University. He was born in 1974 in Sichuan, China. He obtained his B.Sc. in Structural Engineering and his Ph.D. in disaster prevention and mitigation engineering at Tsinghua University in 1996 and 2001, respectively. After that, he stayed as a faculty in the School of Civil Engineering to initiate teaching, research and practice on underground space engineering and structural engineering. As a visiting scholar, he participated in the education and research project on wood structures at the University of British Columbia in 2005. He takes design practices in Architectural Design & Research Institute of Tsinghua University and is also a member of Wood Structure Committee, Architectural Society of China. He has published more than 60 papers, co-authored two books, and won one First-Class Prize of China Highway and Transportation Society and one Second-Class Prize of Chinese Ministry of Education.

Dr. Kent A. Harries is Professor of Structural Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Pittsburgh and is co-director of the Center for Nonconventional Materials and Alternative Technologies (PITT-NOCMAT). He received his doctorate from McGill University in 1995. His research interests include the use of nonconventional materials, including bamboo, in civil infrastructure. Professor Harries is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed articles, is the co-editor of Nonconventional and Vernacular Construction Materials and is Senior Editor of the Journal of Construction and Building Materials. Professor Harries serves on numerous North American and international codes and standards development committees and led the effort to revise ISO 22156 Bamboo Structural Design. Harries is Fellow of ASCE, ACI and IIFC and is a professional engineer in Ontario, Canada.