GRAPHĒ: Their Experimental Tree House Puts a New Building Material to the Test

After 15 years of research, a mother and son assembled Australia’s first home made of structural laminated bamboo.

Step inside this sun-drenched cabin in Australia’s Blue Mountains and you’ll find yourself exhaling. The serene space floating above a tranquil lake invites quiet contemplation—first of the landscape and then of the structure’s unique materials. The 388-square-foot home is the physical manifestation of 15 years of research into bamboo as a building material by mother-and-son team Nici and Jed Long of the Sydney-based design studio Cave Urban.

Surrounded by trees and overlooking a lake, a cabin in Australia’s Blue Mountains makes for a relaxing retreat. It’s also innovative: Nici and Jed Long built the tiny house to showcase the potential of structural laminated bamboo as a renewable building material. The home has an east–west orientation to capture the sun’s path, and at sunset, the living room and deck "light up," Jed says. "Wherever you are…you just want to go back to the deck to enjoy that moment."
Photo: Marnie Hawson

Bamboo is a sustainable, fast-growing grass, but its round, hollow form limits its use in conventional building projects. Enter structural laminated bamboo, which is made by gluing strips of the material together to create planks. "It turns it into something more legible for mainstream construction practices," explains Jed, who’s been developing the product alongside several forestry organizations in Indonesia for the past six years.

The small space is surprisingly accommodating, Jed notes, thanks to abundant built-in seating. "We wanted to make spaces where people could sit, not necessarily together, so that you could occupy different parts of the cabin," he says. Nici made the pendant light from a vintage rattan hat.
Photo: Marnie Hawson

To showcase its potential in Australia, Jed and Nici put laminated bamboo to use in a tiny guesthouse on their family farm, becoming the first in the country to build a home with it. "You just have to make things so people can see that you can do it," Nici says.