Customizable Sustainable Bamboo Shelter With Lashings

I set out to design an infinitely customizable bamboo structure that could be built by hand with nothing but rope, using a technique called lashing. The idea here is that since there's no metal or plastic hardware, it could be completely biodegradable if it isn't taken down.

You will notice that I used paracord and a plastic tarp in my demo, but that's just because I had them both already and I didn't want to spend too much money. There are plenty of solid alternatives, which I will discuss more later.

If you've never tried lashing before, it's pretty fun! In this Instructable, I won't individually explain each lashing we use, but instead I'll link an article for each one. The most important element of lashing is to maintain tightness. Each loop you tie needs to be as tight as possible, or the lash won't hold. I can't reiterate this enough.

This project is an homage to my experience in Scouting America, which taught me so many valuable skills. Pioneering (using lashings to create structures) is one of my favorite parts of scouting because of how much you can do with it, from shelters to catapults to camp kitchens. Endless possibilities!

Quick safety note-- this should really be done with 2+ people. I do NOT recommend building it by yourself as it could fall and cause injury.

The supplies are pretty simple! You need:

1. Rope
2. I used about 200 feet of 550 paracord. Paracord isn't biodegradable, so if you are looking for a more sustainable option, jute rope of a similar or thicker diameter is a great option.
3. Bamboo or other pole shaped object
4. Could use large sticks or similar
5. I got mine in a bunch of 8-foot segments, your length and number will depend on the size you want your structure to be.
6. Tarp large enough to cover the roof shape you choose
7. This is the most difficult to find a sustainable option for. Some options might include a repaired tarp, a tarp made from recycled materials, or a canvas tarp made from natural materials. Or, maybe you just need a sunshade and not a waterproof tarp!
8. Stakes
9. Tape measure
10. Hand saw or sawzall/reciprocating saw to cut bamboo
11. Knife to cut rope
12. Optional - Work gloves. My fingers blistered very easily without them.
13. Optional - If your design is tall enough, a ladder or two may be needed.

You can do this however you like! I used Fusion since I'm familiar with it, but you can also use something like Tinkercad or even just sketch it by hand!

I recommend taking inspiration from my design and tweaking it to your needed purpose. My design consists of triangles as a roof structure with legs that reach down to the ground on each bottom point of the triangle.

I used 8-foot sections of bamboo and planned in my design to lash two pieces together in areas where I needed more length.

Next, gather your bamboo! I have a neighbor who's backyard is full of it and he's frequently trying to clear it out. We cut a whole bunch of 8-foot segments in various diameters and cleaned up all of the branches on each piece. To maintain the strength of the pieces and prevent the ends from fraying, cut just past the last ridge of the bamboo. You can be as precise or as lax as you want with the dimensions, the actual construction was mostly vibes-based for me haha.

It's time to start lashing! Rather than individually describing how to do each lash here, I'm going to add links to each one. If you build this yourself, I recommend learning each lash first so you know what you're doing once you get outside.

First, lay out the pieces you're going to use for the triangle part of the first frame.

If you're combining pieces to get a longer section like I am, I recommend laying them down next to a tape measure to get the length you want. I'm going to lash these together first.

You need to make sure you have a decent bit of overlap between your two spars, as the lashing we'll do will need to connect them in two different spots. I used the West Country Round Lashing. You could use the regular round lashing featured in the linked article, but I found that, especially with paracord, that has a tendency to slip and the West Country variant is far superior. It is extremely important to make sure that each loop is as tight as possible, or the lash will loosen and your joint will start to sag.

Next, we're going to move to the top of the triangle. For this, we'll use a Square Lashing, as this angle is sorta kinda close to 90 degrees. In the linked instructable, the author does only a couple wraps and fraps. I'd recommend a couple more, depending on the thickness of the rope and spar. I aimed for something like 5 wraps and 3ish fraps, depending on how much rope I had. I used about 18 feet for each lashing in this project.

It may make it slightly easier to do this by setting the spars at a 90 degree angle, tying the lash, and then bending them back into the position they'll need to be in. One advantage of the square lash (and most other lashings) is that it's fairly flexible (which is a blessing and a curse).

Next, we'll attach the top part of the triangle to the base we did earlier. We'll do this with a Diagonal Lashing on each corner. This lash is similar to a square lashing, but is better for weird angles like this one.

Make sure to keep it tight!

To add the legs, we're going to lash them in two different places on the frame for added rigidity. Remember: keep it tight!

Lay out the legs like they are in the picture, going over one edge of the triangle and under another. Then, use a square lash to attach the leg to the bottom spar of the triangle and a diagonal lash to attach the leg to the top edge. Repeat on both sides.

Repeat those steps to build a second frame structure! If you designed a longer structure, you may want a total of 3 frames.

Now we need the spars that connect the frames. I wanted my two frames to be 14 feet apart, so I made 3 14-foot spars using the same West Country Round Lashing from earlier, one for each corner of the triangle.

Okay. Here's where it gets tricky and where you can learn from my mistakes. I decided for some reason to keep the legs at 8 feet long. This meant that the bottom of the triangle was going to be 8 feet off the ground, and the top was like 11 or so feet off the ground. Luckily, we have a couple ladders at my house, but you may want to use shorter legs to make it a bit safer to construct.

Also, please do not try to do this by yourself. You need at least one other person, I had two other people.

Depending on the resources you have access to, you may have a better way to do this, but I'll show you what we did.

We set the first frame up on a ladder, then I square lashed the cross-beams to the legs on the inside of the small triangle, as pictured. This secured the legs into place on that frame.

Then, my helpers held the other frame up and I brought the cross-beams up to the opposite side and lashed them in place. You can attach the top crossbeam now or later, up to you. I didn't really do a lash, i just kinda wrapped a rope around it a couple times and called it a day since this isn't really a structural component.

Due to the nature of lashings preventing movement but not rotation, this will not stand on its own! Your helpers need to keep holding it in place while you complete the next step (which I did before I took the final picture in this step ;) )

In order to stabilize the structure, we need to add guy lines on each corner. I used the Tautline Hitch on both ends of the rope to create two adjustable loops, one through the small triangle created by the legs and the other to a stake in the ground. The stakes should be placed in line with two diagonally opposite corners, as shown in the diagram here. You want to make sure the lines are nice and tight!

I put the tarp up by tying some lengths of rope to two of the corners and throwing it over the top beam to get it started, then I used some spare spars to keep pushing it over. Do be very careful here not to push too hard, or you run the risk of pulling the stakes out and having the whole structure topple over. That definitely didn't happen to me, of course nottttt..... Taut line hitches can be used to attach the tarp to the structure where necessary.

Throw in some furniture and you've got yourself a sustainable shelter for any outdoor event you can think of! I hope you learned something about the science of Lashing!