I guess the first thing I should say is that – I know very little about cars. Well that’s not completely true as I can fix pretty much anything on an Austin 1300 – but I’m not one of those car fanatics who knows everything about every different car on the planet.  But I am curious though about the Phoenix, a car made from rattan and bamboo.  The Phoenix is a 3.89 m long two-seater concept car designed by Kenneth Cobonpue and Albrecht Birkner to demonstrate the possibility of a renewably-sourced, biodegradable chasis.  There’s more work to be done, and currently the bamboo and rattan are tied together with steel and nylon, but it’s certainly prettier than the Bamgoo from 2008.

The Phoenix is also a reminder of the elegance of bamboo in other design discplines.  Architecture has many examples – though few in NZ …

for example: the House at i-lan, Ilan, Eastern Taiwan (ROEWUarchitecture, April 2008)

… the administration building, Green School, Badung, Bali, Indonesia (PT Bambu, 2007)

… and finally Kengo Kuma’s Great (Bamboo) Wall Housse, nr Beijing, China, 2002.