Bamboo, with its straight body, hollow cane, segments, and hardy nature, carries rich symbolic meanings. The furniture, walls and floor of HSUHK Jockey Club Residential Colleges, S H Ho Academic Building, Lee Shau Kee Complex and Lee Quo Wei Academic Building are mostly made of bamboo. All the four buildings receive the highest BEAM+ Platinum recognition issued

by the Hong Kong Green Building Council. This idea, which was initiated by Mr Martin Tam, a renowned architect who is serving as a member of HSUHK Board of Governors and the Chairman of Steering Committee on Campus Expansion, was put into reality by the architect firm Wong & Ouyang (HK) Limited together with the professional teams.

One can find the walls covered with bamboo strips when visiting the Multipurpose Indoor Sports Hall of HSUHK. This is one of the ingenious designs by Martin. He explains that the bamboo-made walls, with pores of different sizes, have the function of sound absorption by absorbing different sound frequencies. “This fulfills not only a visual but also a functional purpose.” What’s more, bamboo releases more oxygen than wood, which suits the need for those exercising in the Sports Hall. “Players need more oxygen when they are on the field. Bamboo can help provide more oxygen to players and absorb more carbon dioxide,” Martin says.

Beyond the indoor facilities, bamboo is also planted around the HSUHK campus. With our campus embraced by hills and forests, we have developed several green landscapes to merge into our surrounding environment, in which bamboo certainly plays a part. You can find various species of bamboo like Hyllostachys aurea , Phyllostachys bambusoides “Tanakae”, Bambusa glaucescens , Bambusa vulgaris , Bambusa glaucescens var. riviereorum, Dendrocalamus minor var. amoenus, Bambusa glaucescens cv. Silverstripe, Bambusa multiplex cv. Alphonse-karr and others on campus. Staff and students can enjoy these types of bamboo and associate their grace and vitality with the education belief of HSUHK: Erudition and Perseverance, and ever-growing.

Having demonstrated how bamboo can be applied through the design of HSUHK new buildings, Martin wishes that bamboo would be more commonly used in different aspects of society. He thinks that the characteristics of bamboo echo the education belief of HSUHK. Martin says, “It seems people nowadays forget the benefits of bamboo. I wish to deliver a message to society and let the young generation know more about bamboo through advocating the bamboo culture. I hope youngsters to learn the virtues of bamboo: integrity, resilience, humility, grace and evergreenness.”