Background

I came across a post on steel scaffolding about a week before. Steel scaffolding seems to have been dominating in overseas construction industries. Much contrary to what has been happening overseas, bamboo scaffolding has been the mainstay in Hong Kong construction.

大約一周前，我遇到過一篇文章關於建築用棚架。鋼製棚架似乎一直在非香港建設行業中佔據主導地位。與國外發生的情況大相徑庭，竹棚架一直是香港建設業的主力軍。

 
A vivid moment is coming to my mind now when it comes to bamboo scaffolding, the other day I was waiting to cross the road and a construction site was in front of me where a wall refurbishment work was going on. A small group of tourists, waiting alongside me, marvelled at bamboo scaffolding when they were turning their eyeballs up and staring at the scaffolding. It might have been their first time having seen that hefty bamboo sticks crisscrossing each other creating that massive scaffolding structure.

當談到竹棚架時，現在我想起了一個時刻，有一天我正在等待過馬路，一個施工場在我的前面。那裡正進行牆面翻新工程。一群遊客在我旁邊等著，他們正在盯著竹棚架，而且感到驚嘆。這可能是他們第一次看到這巨大的竹互相交叉，形成了巨大的竹棚架。

 
Debates on whether steel outperforms bamboo or the other way round seem to have been ongoing among researchers specalised in mechanical properties. Ogunbiyi and the research team (2015) concluded that steel had better stiffness than bamboo. Adewuyi and the research team (2015) reached a similar conclusion. In sharp contrast, Mir (2013) disagreed and countered that 1 inch bamboo is able to withstand almost 7 tonnes of materials. Ghavami (2005) was in favour of bamboo as an inexpensive alternative to steel in construction projects.

從事機械特性方面研究的人員似乎一直在爭論鋼鐵是否超越竹。 Ogunbiyi和研究團隊（2015年）得出結論鋼鐵比竹子具有更好的剛度。 Adewuyi和研究小組（2015）也得出了類似的結論。與此形成鮮明對比的是，米爾（2013）不同意並反駁說，1英寸的竹子能承受近7噸的材料。 Ghavami（2005）贊成將竹子作為建築項目的廉價替代品。

 
Totally incompetent in mechanical properties, I am not doing an experiment here, let alone debating. Rather, I would like to present to you how skilled those professionals in the construction trade are at carefully weaving bamboo poles one after one, vertically and horizontally, to form platforms and frames on the construction site.

我完全是外行，我在這裡不是做實驗，更不用說辯論了。相反，我想向你們介紹一下，建築行業的人們如何熟練地垂直和水平地一個接一個地仔細編織竹竿，在施工現場形成平台和框架。

 

Bamboo scaffolding from a layman's perspective

This is the bamboo construction structure the tourists standing next to me went in awe of. The scaffolding is visually captivating. The building is wrapped by the makeshift bamboo frame on which construction professionals go up and down to overhaul and revitalise the building.

這就那竹棚架結構。那結構視覺迷人。在臨時搭建的竹棚架裹，建築專業人員上下進行檢。

 

An overhead horizontal platform is right above the pavement, on which construction professionals work their way up the vertical frame like spidermen.

一個架空的水平竹棚架平台就在路面的正上方，建築專業人員沿著像蜘蛛一樣的垂直框架向上工作。

 

The horizontal platform in the last photo is accompanied by three slanted platforms around the building. The slanted platforms can prevent people, tools, or things from falling to the ground.

這三個傾斜的平台可以防止人員，工具或物體掉落地面。

 

The platform from another angle.

 

Is crisscrossing of these bamboo sticks some breathtaking art?

這些交織在一起的竹是一種壯觀的藝術嗎？

 

Look at how jaw dropping it can be. This photo, adopted from Arterially (2016), shows The Convention Centre in Wanchai, is wrapped by an large enclosure of bamboo sticks. Construction professionals construct an enclosure like this from the ground merely with their bare hands!

這張照片，摘自Arterially（2016年），展示了灣仔會議中心被大量竹包裹。建築專業人士僅僅用他們的雙手從地面構建這樣的竹棚架！

 

This photo, taken from Arterially (2016), shows how construction professionals risk their lives dangling themselves in the air and climb up and down to tie each bamboo sticks together and form bamboo scaffolding.

這張照片，摘自Arterially（2016年），展示了建築專業人員如何冒著生命懸浮在空中，爬上爬下來將每根竹綁在一起並形成竹棚架。

 

I couldn't take any photos of construction professionals working up there. Here, a photo from CNN (2016) can explicitly show you how they work like spidermen.

我無法拍攝在那里工作的建築專業人員。在這裡，來自CNN（2016）的照片可以明確告訴你他們是如何像蜘蛛一樣工作的。

 

Referencing for this post adheres to the APA referencing guide 6th edition.

 

References

Adewuyi, A. P., Otukoya, A. A., Olaniyi, O. A., & Olafusi, O. S. (2015). Comparative studies of steel, bamboo and rattan as reinforcing bars in concrete: tensile and flexural characteristics. Open Journal of Civil Engineering, 5(02), 228-238.

Arterially (2016). Watch how bamboo scaffolding was used to build Hong Kong's skyscrapers. Arterially. Retrieved from https://www.archdaily.com/793364/watch-how-bamboo-scaffolding-was-used-to-build-hong-kongs-skyscrapers

CNN (2016). Hong Kong's incredible bamboo spidermen. CNN. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/hong-kong-bamboo-spidermen/index.html

Ghavami, K. (2005). Bamboo as reinforcement in structural concrete elements. Cement and Concrete Composites, 27(6), 637-649.

Mir, S. H. (2013). Bamboo as a cost effective structural material in buildings. International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR), 1(9), 45-49.

Ogunbiyi, M. A., Olawale, S. O., Tudjegbe, O. E., & Akinola, S. R. (2015). Comparative analysis of the tensile strength of bamboo and reinforcement steel bars as structural member in building construction. Stress (N/mm²), 379(2), 551-553.

**Text and photos are original unless stated otherwise. **