Designing and Building Big with Sustainable, Code-Certified, Structural Bamboo
By Sam Small, Vice President – Developing Markets, Bamboo Technologies
Mr. Sam Small
Bamboo
is one of, if not the fastest growing plant on earth and wherever it
grows it’s been used as building material for as long as humans have
been building. But now that it’s been certified that properly treated
Structural Bamboo meets international building codes, bamboo has become
one of the fastest growing structural building materials in the
worldwide sustainable construction industry. The largest modern bamboo
building built so far: 55,200 Sq Ft.
The
International Code Council (ICC) certified in 2004 that Structural
Bamboo Poles produced by Hawaii-based Bamboo Technologies comply with
International Building Code (IBC), International residential Code (IRC)
and Uniform Building Code (UBC) standards and since then over 100
building-code compliant bamboo structures used as homes and vacation
resorts have been pre-fabricated and shipped from the BT factory in
Viet Nam to be re-assembled on sites all around the world.
The
international certification was the result of years of research and
testing to find ways to protect bamboo from insects and rot and it
paved the way for the legitimate use of structural bamboo by
architects, designers and builders worldwide in all sorts of
applications. Whatever architectural expression, residential,
commercial, even bridges, that have historically been built using wood,
can potentially be built “to code” using structural bamboo
instead.
But
Bamboo has particular characteristics and strengths that are different
from other building materials, which deserve to be fully explored by
architects and engineers. Bamboo is an extremely strong fiber; with
twice the compressive strength of concrete and roughly the same
strength-to-weight ratio of steel in tension. It’s extremely
lightweight by comparison: just four workers can lift a 26 ft long
triangular bamboo roof truss into position by hand. The known limits of
Structural Bamboo continue to be pushed: some of what has been achieved
to date include a 90 foot Free-Spanning Truss, 30 foot roof eaves and
Multi-story construction.
How
do you entice the best minds in architecture, design and engineering
from around the world to focus on what can be built out of Structural
Bamboo and what service these structures can provide? You sponsor an
International Bamboo Design Competition. And so BT did!
Bamboo
Technologies, INBAR (International Network of Bamboo & Rattan) and
the International Bamboo Foundation sponsored the competition. We
offered over $12,000 in cash awards, the opportunity to have winning
designs commercially produced by BT and inclusion in a globally
distributed book and traveling exhibition. With cash prizes offered,
word sure got around and we garnered over 100 relevant web mentions
about the competition.
Contestants
registered from 64 countries and submitted 250 designs in 12 building
categories such as family housing, urban, emergency, commercial and
public buildings, even tree-houses. An international panel of 16 jurors
selected the winners based on Utility (functionality), Strength
(structural integrity), Beauty (aesthetic appeal), Concept and Design
Development, graphic Layout and Use and Expression of Bamboo.
The first place winner was a Commercial/Public Building, The METI School in Bangladesh, Architects: Anna Heringer & Eike Roswag, Germany.
The school was hand-built with the support of local craftsmen, pupils,
and teachers. The upper story consists of a triple-layer floor (bamboo
panels layered with a straw-clay mixture) over a framework of bamboo
floor joists spanning perpendicular to the building. The elevation
cladding is made of bamboo strips mounted to the supporting pole
construction. The connections between bamboo poles are anchored with
steel dowel and bound with nylon rope. No special machinery was
required. With the exception of holes bored using an electric drill,
all work was undertaken by hand. This building also won the Aga Kahn
Award for Architecture in 2007.
The second place winner entered as a Pavilion, Conference Center, and Roof Structure. The Café of Wind and Water in the southern province of Binh Duong, Vietnam, Architects: Vo Trong Nghia & Nguyen Hoa Hiep: Vietnam.
This structure is expressed as three component parts: roof, room and a
150mm deep pool. It has angular bamboo as the major construction
material with limited amounts of steel. Otherwise the whole roof
construction is locally sourced organic material, with rattan ties and
a water-coconut roof covering. The design incorporates aerodynamic,
evaporative cooling and passive ventilation strategies: The generous
roof not only provides essential shade from the Vietnamese sun, but is
also shaped to direct the wind to be cooled as it passes over the pond
and then drawn through the space.
The Appreciation Award, voted on by the contest entrants also entered as a Pavilion, Conference Center, Roof Structure by Architects Marek Keppl & Toma Korec: Slovak Republic.
The
aim of their Bamboo Pavilion was to create a space, where roof, walls,
and support construction would work as one. Using the parabolic curve
and bamboo’s natural flexibility, these designers have created a
lightweight structure and a pleasant, light filled environment for
people to gather. Rainwater runs down the outside surface of the
membrane on the conic cylinders and into retaining canals in the
foundation.
The Bamboo Fashion House entered as an Urban Building by Architect Chan Chee Hau, is designed to occupy a full city block in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
with five floors of retail space. The designer had to juxtapose shading
the building while allowing for open viewing and exhibit spaces to draw
customers in. The building is shaded on the side with the most sun
exposure by a roof of curved bamboo covered with a waterproof membrane,
and bamboo is used structurally and decoratively throughout the
building.
These
are just a few of the dazzling design ideas presented in the book that
resulted from this competition: Visionary Bamboo: designs for
Ecological Living. http://bamboocompetition.com Its offered as
inspiration and proof that Bamboo can and will be a significant
building product that can enrich and transform architecture and design
into a more sustainable and organic medium for everyone’s benefit.
And
now a new competition "Design for an Eco-friendly Community" is being
sponsored by ArcSpace.com, Ecolandnow.com, INBAR and Bamboo
Technologies and is welcoming hybrid designs using at least 25% Bamboo.
Entrants will be able to add their visions to an interactive 3-D
eco-community on-line at arcspace Island
in the virtual world called secondlife.com. Winners will have the
opportunity to see their buildings built in bamboo forests in China and on the real-world island of Maui.
Other
recently built structures also show the diversity in style that can be
effected capitalizing on the strength of Structural Bamboo: The Nomadic
Museum at the Zócalo, in Mexico City,
designed by Colombian architect Simón Vélez, is the largest bamboo
structure yet built. "Bamboo’s relationship to weight and resistance is
the best in the world. Anything built with steel, I can do in bamboo
faster and just as cheaply," said Velez. Velez’s 55,200 square-foot
structure containing two galleries and three distinct theatres is
composed primarily of bamboo and utilizes other recyclable and reusable
materials that demonstrate sustainable practices and an innovative
architectural approach. The museum houses Canadian artist Gregory
Colbert’s “Ashes and Snow”, tapestry-sized photos of humans interacting
with animals.
It’s
also worth noting that building with Structural Bamboo doesn’t require
that the building look like a bamboo building. Bamboo Technologies’
architect David Sands designed the Hip House to look like any other
house, even though the primary structural elements are Bamboo. The
photo here shows connected Hip Houses with tile roofs and cement and
stucco walls. It’s available with a dual wall construction that
facilitates insulation, making the design and application of Structural
Bamboo appropriate for virtually any climate, cold or hot.
Bamboo is the next green building evolution, and it’s heading your way. This giant grass is... Renewable:
it takes 60 years for a tree to grow 60 feet, bamboo can grow as tall
in 60 days; Restorative: bamboo absorbs more CO2 and releases 30% more
oxygen than a tree; and Strong: in Costa Rica, all 30 bamboo houses at
the epicenter of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake survived without any
damage, and all of the code-certified buildings built by Bamboo
Technologies are hurricane rated for sustained 180 mile an hour winds.
Now code-certified Structural Bamboo is available for use by architects
and engineers throughout the world on projects the scope of which will
surprise you.
Reproduced with permission from HotelExecutive.com
Sam Small is Vice President of Developing Markets with Bamboo Technologies, based in Maui, Hawaii.
After a successful career in mass media, culminating with 8 yrs service
in the unique position of V.P. of Broadcast Production at Prudential
Financial where he directed and edited over 200 national TV spots
promoting the firm through one of the largest public offerings in the
history of Wall Street, Sam Small has turned his sights towards
promoting Bamboo as a sustainable and globally appropriate construction
material. Originally a customer of Bamboo Technologies, Sam was so
impressed with the product and the company that he became directly
involved. He has so far supervised the assembly and finishing of three
bamboo structures, and currently lives in a bamboo house on Maui. Mr Small can be contacted at 808-572-1007 or samsmall@bambootechnologies.com Visit http://www.bambooliving.com
