Tag: scaffolding | ArchDaily

The Politics of Bamboo: From Vernacular Craft to Temporal Infrastructure

Jonathan Yeung — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 06:30:24 +0000

Bamboo is often praised before it is understood. It grows quickly, carries a long history of building cultures, and appears to offer architecture an immediate ecological language. In photographs, it can seem almost self-explanatory: light, natural, renewable, and already aligned with a more sustainable future. Yet this apparent clarity is also what makes bamboo difficult to discuss with precision. Once it becomes a symbol of environmental responsibility, the material itself can disappear behind the image it produces.

From Scaffolds to Structures: India’s Unfinished Journey with Bamboo

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Across Asia, bamboo scaffolding has symbolized an intersection of traditional knowledge and modern construction. Hong Kong's skyline is shaped by intricate bamboo scaffolding, yet this time-honored craft is steadily vanishing from the region. Moving east, Indian cities still utilize bamboo scaffolding on building sites throughout the subcontinent, revealing a different kind of paradox.

From Common Sight to Cultural Symbol: The Rise and Decline of Bamboo Scaffolding in Hong Kong

Jonathan Yeung — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 07:30:00 +0000

The bamboo scaffolding building typology—temporary, agile, and deeply rooted in tradition—particularly, the bamboo shed theatre building technique, is recognized as an item of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Hong Kong. As one walks through the city, especially in busy urban districts, it's nearly impossible not to encounter a bamboo scaffold within a five-minute radius. Bamboo scaffolding is arguably the most iconic construction material in Hong Kong, valued for its abundance, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, and—most importantly—scalability. These qualities have contributed to its widespread use in temporary construction, from building maintenance and renovations to festival stages and sporting events.

The Architectural Language of Scaffoldings in Cityscapes: Exploring the Impact of These Temporary Structures

Paul Yakubu — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 07:30:00 +0000

As one takes a visual tour through the city, one might spot structures that break the rhythm of finished architectural products. These are buildings encased in grids of metal or wooden sections, sometimes wrapped in colored nets, that communicate a moment of construction, repair, renovation, or demolition. They are called scaffolding systems, temporary structures built in the city to aid in the erection or maintenance of buildings. However, they have evolved to speak their own architectural language. As city-making is a continuous process, scaffolds serve as beacons, proposing silhouettes of the height, shape, or forms of new buildings. They step into the sidewalks, acting as shade or obstructions to the flow of human and vehicular traffic. In contrast to the permanence of architecture, they exhibit a sense of temporality that helps communicate time, the growth of neighborhoods, and the evolution of a city.

The Power of Concrete: Twisted Tree-Shaped Supports and Beams

Olivia Bartolini — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 01:30:00 +0000

The new headquarters of the building materials manufacturer HeidelbergCement consists of three interconnected building sections of different heights. The atrium of each building section provides plenty of light and luminance. The building was opened in June 2020 and provides up to 1,000 employees with a state-of-the-art work environment. The architectural firm AS+P Albert Speer + Partner based in Frankfurt was responsible for the project as a general planner, and carried out the design in collaboration with W+Architektur, with the latter providing the consulting office for the client’s project manager.

Public Spaces with Scaffolding: an Alternative in Emergency Situations

Clara Ott & María Francisca González — Fri, 29 May 2020 05:30:00 +0000

When facing emergencies such as natural disasters, warfare or pandemics, architecture must offer immediate and effective solutions. In these unfortunate circumstances, the priority is usually to solve problems around housing, however, once the emergency is under control, the focus starts to slowly move towards meeting places such as community centers, neighborhood councils and public spaces.

Exhibition: Scaffolding at Center for Architecture

Rene Submissions — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 17:01:00 +0000

Scaffolding curated by Greg Barton, examines the extraordinary applications of scaffolding as a kit-of-parts technology to provide novel forms of inhabitation and access. Through an installation designed by Shohei Shigematsu and OMA New York with graphic design by MTWTF, Scaffolding will disrupt the architectural space of the Center for Architecture, instilling a new appreciation of scaffolding and its transformative potential.

Of particular interest to our local New York City audience, scaffolding is a flexible and accessible system hiding in plain sight. Despite its indispensable link to architecture, scaffolding is too often maligned as a necessary nuisance. The exhibition demonstrates how this

Watch How Bamboo Scaffolding Was Used to Build Hong Kong's Skyscrapers

Patrick Lynch — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 14:45:00 +0000

In the late 20th century, restricted by an a small landmass and extreme terrain, the Hong Kong urban area grew to become one of the densest and most vertical places on the planet, with more buildings taller than 500 feet than any other city in the world. But instead of the steel or aluminum structures used as scaffolding in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, the majority of skyscrapers built in Hong Kong and much of Asia used scaffolding systems constructed out of bamboo.