Bamboo Habitat

Written by Caroline / 18 August 2009 / Read Caroline's latest blog entries.

As part of the Green Entrepreneurial Youth Awards that the Climate Solutions Project of IYCN and Exhibitions India organized this year, we received dozens of incredible entries from youth all across the country with exciting ideas and implemented projects. I asked many of them to write guest blogs for indiaclimatesolutions.com, and I begin with Joshua Dawson's "Bamboo Habitat" - a building as well as an interior materials line of bamboo - a fast growing and ecologically beneficial plant and crop. Here's Joshua's story of the Bamboo Habitat project:

The 'Bamboo Habitat' began as a studio design. Of the forty students the studio lecturers chose 4 habitat designs to be constructed. The 'Bamboo Habitat' was one of the four. The class was then divided into 4 groups to aid in finance and construction of the four designs. Amulya, Aparna, Devasiri, Nisha, Poorvi, Priyanka, Rakshita, Ravichandar, Sumana and Varsha were my team mates.

I was always inspired by architects like Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, and Glenn Murcutt because they believed in the idea of ‘touching the earth lightly’ and sustainable ideas. They merged the concept of sustainability with beauty in a very subtle way. This was my chance to implement the philosophy they preach.

The four designs, which were constructed, were to be exhibited at the RV School of Architecture’s annual exhibition. We were allowed to use the exhibition site for preparation only a day before the main show. So we started work a week before the exhibition at the parking space of a theater which was nearly 12 km away from the exhibition site. It was nearly an impossible task to transport an 18’ by 15’ structure, which was 12’ tall, 12 km away through Bangalore's traffic conditions. The design was required to be modified in such a way that transportation was made easier. For example, instead of building a single wall we divided it into parts which were made of panels and the panels in turn were attached to vertical poles which fit into the flooring at a right angle.

We had many visits to the market, we spoke to professionals and we studied bamboo as a construction material-its treatment and joinery. We learned that usual treatment methods like applying pesticides could hamper the indoor air quality as they give out Volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Thus we tried to find more Eco friendly ways of treatment like the vertical soak diffusion process.

We tried highlighting the idea of recycling by using wood from dismantled crates for flooring and using tarpaulin cloth from advertising banners. The tarpaulin was sandwiched between two layers of thatch for water proofing for the ceiling.

Thus, what was then a studio design seemed to be more a demonstration of a ‘sustainable building concept’ by us 11 students on a smaller scale now.

When our structure was successfully transported and reassembled within 10 hours we felt a great sense of accomplishment. ‘Green’ Architect Mr. Karan Grover was a keynote speaker at the event and called it an inspirational structure. Mr. Karan Grover’s amazing lecture further inspired the eleven of us to continue with our green thinking. 

The project is not yet complete. As and when time and finance permit we would work on adding sustainable services and maybe making it a slightly bigger structure. We have already been trying to add solar panels to power a CFL and a fan. Organizations like INBAR have already been actively involved in the use of bamboo and rattan for low cost housing.

This will be a first Eco-friendly structure of the many more to come for me. This experience has changed my entire outlook towards design and sustainability which results in my studio designs being sustainable in one way or another from now on.

The key to the future of this planet lies with the youth. It is important that we take the first step to switch on the green movement as we are the ones who are to inherit this planet from the ones who are to be held responsible for the condition this planet is in today. We have been informed as to the problems this planet faces through various media. Individuals from every profession and every vocation could contribute in the biggest way to sustain it.

For more information on Joshua and his project, please leave him a comment below or contact the Climate Solutions Project at indiaclimatesolutions@gmail.com