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Building With Bamboo

Continuing a tradition

in modern context.

By

Inspiration

Cochin, Kerala.

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! Building our own office there was the needto take a step in the direction of bringingabout a paradigm shift in the use of materials.The search brought us to bamboo.

The Context Why Bamboo?

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Potential of Bamboo

Bamboo grows very fast and is highly renewable. To build 1000

houses of bamboo annually, material may be taken from a 60-

hectare bamboo plantation, which can be replaced in 5-7 years. If

an equivalent project used timber, it would require 500 hectares

of forest cover and it would take decades to replace.

Bamboo, unlike cement and steel, helps in decentralizing the

construction process which has both economic and more

importantly ecological advantages.

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Our Forte

Shri.KR Datye and

Shri.Vilas N Gore are

structural and geo-technicalengineers based in Mumbai,who have done over 20 yearsof research and field tests in

application of bamboo as astructural material. Weturned to them for technicalsupport.

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What we wanted to be able to accommodate the

whole of our multi-faceted staffteam.

to retain all the trees in thepremises.

to have optimum natural lightingin every corner during daytime,and good natural ventilation andthermal comfort.

we were clear that what we aretrying to achieve is a modernbuilding.

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Other

Considerations the building had to resist 200 kmphcyclonic winds and earth quake of intensitythat can occur in the region.

weak soil.

high water table - ground dampness.

insect, termite and rodent attacks were alsobe prevented.

to satisfactorily meet all of the aboverequirements at less than market costsprevalent in our area for a building havingso many features.

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The Design

GROUND

FLOORPLAN

The building planning concept is

woven around openness in plan that

keeps the communication flowing yetmaintains privacy. The orientation of

the building is such that the north east

morning winds blowing over the pond

gets cooled and flows into office areas.Passages act as buffer zones stopping

the rain and harsh light from entering

workspaces.

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FIRSTFLO

ORPLAN

The Design

The spaces can be classified into

public, semi private, private andexecutive.

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BIRDSE

YEVIEW

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CUT AWAY SECTION

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Covering an area of 2750 Sft, our office isprobably the first and largest of its kind and anexperiment where we have attempted todevelop a technology (bamboo and reinforcedplaster) for using bamboo in floors, walls androofs in ways that meet our contemporaryneeds.

Bamboo is used in combination with RCC(columns), ferro-cement (beams), and a limitedquantity of reinforced plaster so as to arrive at

an attractive functional and replicablecombination of technologies.

It is noteworthy that almost 25% of the

bamboo used in the building was cut from theimmediate premises of the building.

The Structure

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The Foundation

Considering the weak soil andthe high water table thestructure stands on column

footings about 3 feet deep.

Standing the structure on stilts

helped prevent the dampnessfrom seeping in and alsosafeguarded the bamboo fromtermite, insect and rodent

attacks.

The maximum load on a column

is 30 KN and an isolated footingis provided for the foundation.

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The Floors, Walls and Roofs

The infill floor, walls and roof of thebuilding are constructed using micro-steel

reinforced mortar bamboo composite.

Large glazed windows are given all along the

inward looking walls which give ample

protected lighting and ventilation.

The temperature difference between the

exterior and the interior averages 4-5degrees on a hot summer day.

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Finishes

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Loading The dead load of the composite is 1500 N/ m2 and the live load

is taken as 4000 N/ m2

The building is also analyzed for wind and earthquake loads. The

maximum load taken by one column is 30 KN and an isolated

footing of size 1m x 1m is provided to take the load.

The building was monitored for two years on a weekly basis.

Observations were made in the X, Y and Z axis for displacementand no displacement was observed.

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Preservative Treatment

All bamboo used on the building hasbeen given preservative treatment.

At the time of construction water basedpressure treatment with non-toxicpreservative chemicals was given.A pressure of 3.5 Kg/ cm for one hour

was found to be sufficient to achieve aretention of more than 8 Kg/ m3

(dry salt) in split bamboo.

Presently we are into LOSP cold diptreatment for in-situ bamboo. It is anon-hazardous trichlorophenol

formulation which can be used toreplace water soluble preservatives.

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Other Features

An Anaerobic treatment plant (DEWATS) treats the sewage andwaste water generated in the office. The system consists of ananaerobic baffled reactor, planted gravel filter and polishingpond. The treated water is recycled for gardening.

Rain water is harvested and the pond acts as a beautifullandscape element. Water proofing for pond: local clay forms

impermeable lining in wet condition. An LDPE geofabric linerprotects the clay from drying, cracking and leaking.

In an attempt to minimise river sand mining and itsconsequences, manufactured sand was used instead.

Pre-cast ferro-cement beams have been used as an alternative toRCC. This reduces both the quantity of steel used and the cost.

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Significant Achievements

Bamboo replaces almost 70% of structural cement and steel,

without compromising on any of the qualities that make use of

RCC popular.

The self weight of the building is reduced by around 50% in

comparison to a conventional building of the same nature, whichcan be very advantageous when used for a multi-storied building

as the basic building frame can be made much lighter.

This technology can, with some more effort, be easily adapted

for standardization and assembly line production of

prefabricated components.

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Inspirations award winning entry International

Bamboo Competition, Hawaii

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THANK YOU!

Inspiration, Opp.Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Eroor (W) P.O., Thripunithura,Cochin 682 306, Kerala, India. Tel: +91-484-2779462/ 70/ 73 Fax: +91-484-2781324

Web: www.inspire-india.com