My grad school classmate, Shawn Brown, and I built this modern bamboo gazebo a few years ago on my brother's ranch in Argentina. We used 10’ to 15’ bamboo poles, steel rebar and wire to make the shade structure. The floor and base was made of soil and rock from the local river. This is a nice, weekend DIY project that can also be easily built out of cardboard tubes, tree branches, rigid conduit, broom sticks or 2x2s.

SUPPLIES:

Bamboo Poles
We used a bunch of Bamboo poles that ranged between 10’ and 15’ in length.

Steel Rebar
We used a ½” diameter steel rebar in 16’ lengths. It's easy to bend and can be cut with a hacksaw.

14 Gauge Wire
We used galvanized wire to secure the bamboo to the rebar.

TOOLS:

RYOBI 18 Volt Cordless Drill
Available at Home Depot
We drilled ¾” diameter holes in the bamboo. These holes allowed us to string the bamboo onto the rebar.





RYOBI 18 Volt Chainsaw
Available at Home Depot
The RYOBI 18 Volt Chainsaw is the perfect tool for this type of project.





Husky 7" Diagonal Pliers
Available at Home Depot
I used the diagonal pliers to cut the wire.






Husky 8" Long Nose Pliers
Available at Home Depot
I used long nose pliers to twist the wire and pull it through cracks and holes.





 Alternative: 
RYOBI 18 Volt Reciprocating Saw
Available at Home Depot
This can be used as an alternative to the RYOBI 18 Volt Chainsaw.

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1: Layout your design
Shawn did a couple sketches and some quick calculations to make sure we had enough bamboo.





STEP 2: Drill and string the bamboo
We drilled three sets of ¾” holes in the bamboo and strung the pieces on the rebar. If you want to make stringing the bamboo easier, drill the holes bigger.





STEP 3: Stake one side
We hammered-in bamboo posts at one end and fastened our giant bamboo and rebar mat to it. We then began to bend and shape the mat into a tunnel-like form.











STEP 4: Build a base
We built up a rock wall to serve as a seat and foundation. If you want to make the structure permanent, you can fix the rebar into a block of Quikrete concrete.







STEP 5: Shape and space the poles
We wanted the poles to spread out at one end, so we ran the fourth piece of rebar along the outside and wired each piece of bamboo to it. We cut some short pieces of rebar to act as spacers and drilled holes only half way through the hollow bamboo to hold them in place.





STEP 6: Adjust and Finish
This structure was awkward to work with and took 2 full days to construct. We spent a lot of time adjusting the poles and adding wire to fix them in place. After the gazebo was completed, we used rocks to make the floor and a fire pit.





















Good luck making your own modern gazebo and please email or tweet photos to @benuyeda or ben@homemade-modern.com. For more detailed instructions, dimensioned drawings and different variations of the project, check out our soon-to-be-released book.

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