In the article, 'Building with
bamboo,' Ghavami and Garcia (2017) stated that bamboo can be safely substituted
for conventional construction materials such as steel and cement, which are
polluting and "high-energy-demanding" materials. There are enough
scientific information to increase the use of bamboo for construction
industries posited from research and development since 1970s. Moreover, an
issue of ICE Structures and Buildings has presented papers on improving the mechanical
characterization and standardization of the bamboo material. The author used
multiple researches to support using bamboo culms to replace wood, concrete and
steel. Apart from its environmental benefits, bamboo also creates economic
incentives for farmers to develop bamboo plantations and use the bamboo for
their daily activities. The authors implied that energy saving and conservation
of our earth limited resources can reduce in environmental pollution with the
use of bamboo in construction industry. Although the authors used several
resources to support on the usage of bamboo, the article can further be enhanced
on the characteristics and current applications of bamboo around the world.
Primarily, bamboo is a very hollow
material, making them lightweight and easy to transport from place to place,
especially during construction. They are very flexible to build into complex
shapes and easy to replicate as a blue-print using the same material that will
be used on the actual structure. In the article, "Building with Bamboo: 13
Super Sustainable Structures," Steph (2011) displays structures such as
The Green School, and Cocoon Houses in Bali, Bamboo Forest house in Taiwan, and
the Water and Wind café in Vietnam, to show how bamboo can be applied into various
purposes. Moreover, bamboo model-making makes it easier and convenient as they
provide better visualisation that will be applicable to construct the actual
structure.
Despite being hollow, bamboo has
the tensile strength of steel and compressive strength of concrete. They have
high shock absorbing resistant thus being earthquake resistant. In the article,
"Bamboo: A Great Building Material Gets Even Better," Goldsmith
(2011), mentions that a 6.2 earthquake that hit Columbia in 1999, 70% of newly built
concrete and brick buildings collapsed but all of the older village buildings
made of bamboo stood strong and unaffected by the earthquake. In the aftermath
of an earthquake, rather than using steel and cement which are
expensive, bamboo is a cheaper and readily available alternative
to rebuild the damage.
Finally, bamboo is aesthetically
elegant, detailed and textured. Every bamboo grows in different ways, thus
making every structure unique. Bamboo structures minimize the use of air
conditioning as they are cool and does not absorb heat, makes air easily
ventilated through bamboo gaps. Goldsmith (2011) further states that architects
and designers such as Colombians Simz and Marcelo Villegas, German Joerg Stamm,
Bobby Manosa from the Phillipines and Jorge Moran in Ecuador are demonstrating
to the local communities and world that even the wealthy are selecting bamboo
as an option for their houses and buildings. Sadly, the middle class usually
shun away from using bamboo as they are associated with poverty due to the wide
usage in undeveloped countries. Usually, bamboo structures are made as a
tourist attraction or a resort in many countries, which is why bamboo are in
such low demand to be built as a home instead.
Although the authors highlighted
the key points of bamboo as a substitution for construction, they were not able
to mention about the properties of bamboo and refer to the current application
of bamboo around the world.
(575 words)
References
Distro Home. (2013). Advantages
and Disadvantages of Bamboo House Designs. Retrieved 9 August, 2013
from http://www.distrohome.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-bamboo-house-designs
Ecofarms (2016). Bamboo An Ecofriendly Building Material Is
Sustainable, Bio Degradable And the Future of Construction. Retrieved,
21 July 2016 from http://www.ecofarms.co.in/blog/bamboo-an-ecofriendly-building-material-is-sustainable-bio-degradable-and-the-future-of-construction/
Ghavami, K. and García, J.
J. (2017). Building with bamboo. Retrieved, 30 March,
2017 from https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/the-civil-engineer/march-2017/building-with-bamboo
Goldsmith, J. (2011). Bamboo:
A Great Building Material Gets Even Better. Retrieved 9 March 2011
from https://permaculturenews.org/2011/03/09/bamboo-a-great-building-material-gets-even-better/
Steph. (2011). Building with Bamboo: 13 Super Sustainable Structures. Retrieved,
20 Jun 2011 from http://www.momtastic.com/webecoist/2011/06/20/building-with-bamboo-13-super-sustainable-structures/
TED. (2015). Magical
houses, made of bamboo [Video]
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