Reader's Response (Draft #2) - Revised (12.02.18)

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

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/

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

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]

Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/elora_hardy_magical_houses_made_of_bamboo/details