BAMBOO
AS SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL
Public lecture about bamboo, it’s definitely a new thing for me as I’ve never been exposed to any lecture about bamboo, not even in construction classes. I’ve been wanting to design using bamboo as the main material for my design but it’s always the lack of information that obstruct me, forcing me to use conventional concrete and steel. Mr. Amar also shared his experience of designing using bamboo back when he’s still a student, claiming that his lecturers didn’t buy the idea of him using bamboo constructions, and at last getting bad grades because of the choice of material.
He chose bamboo mainly because bamboo is one of the most abundance sustainable material. He then explained to us the criteria of a sustainable material. First off, energy consumption of a sustainable material which involve manufacturing process, transportation usage should be less. Accessibility to the material should be convenient too. Selection of materials should be locally available materials which will consume less energy in relevant of transportation. Choice of materials will also affect the initial material cost. He also said that bamboo is considered a lightweight material and it’s one of the criteria of sustainable material. It produce less toxic substances and less mixture of materials to make it easy for recycle or reuse. Maintenance is one of the most important criteria. Bamboo is considered designed for disassembly where it is suitable for mass production, packaging, recycle and reuse. Even modular designs are applicable on bamboo.
Of all the criteria that he’d explained to us, I still wonder why bamboo construction isn’t used widely in our country just like Indonesia. I understand that the availability of bamboo is not that abundance as compared to Indonesia and Thailand’s, but speaking of practising sustainable architecture in Malaysia, why not bamboo? Is it not sustainable enough? According to Mr. Amar, the life span of bamboo is up to 10years and it has a better tensile strength as compared to steel. Availability is not a problem in my opinion, as Malaysia’s climate and soil condition is very suitable to plant bamboo and it leaves minimal land footprint as it does not need huge land size for plantation compared to other trees. Also, its growth rate is very high up to 100cm per day and it gives out 35% more oxygen than equivalent stand of trees.
Social acceptance is the vital one in this case. I guess Malaysian is still stuck with the mindset of bamboos as “poor man’s timber” or “wood of the poor” So we rather use expensive and rare timber as construction material when it comes to that. This kind of mindset forced many architects to turn their heads away from bamboo because of the clients’ requirements.
We as Malaysian has to understand that the rainforest in our country is almost gone, heavily harvested with or even without reforestation. That’s why we have to choose bamboo as an alternative in construction and architecture to play a part in saving mother earth. Speaking of using bamboo as construction materials, I think it’s very suitable to Malaysia’s tropical feel and architectural style. It surely does create a very natural and light environment which will blends well with our natural surroundings. It is almost similar to timber construction, more aesthetically enhanced in my opinion.
One of the most recognisable bamboo building in Malaysia is this Bamboo playhouse by Eleena Jamil, located at Perdana Botanical Gardens. Positioned along the edge of the lake, the playhouse is an open structure with raised square platforms set at multiple levels. Inspiration for the playhouse stems from traditional vernacular structures called the ‘wakaf’ which are originally found in villages or ‘kampungs’. These structures are essentially freestanding shelters that can be used freely by anyone in the community as a place to rest. Here, the playhouse can be described as a series of ‘wakafs’ grouped together to form an animated and playful bamboo structure that blends harmoniously with the beautiful greenery of the botanical garden. It offers a series of indeterminate spaces, offering various opportunities of use and occupation.
The use of bamboo in contemporary buildings is very rare in Malaysia and this building explores its potential as a sustainable building material.
The reknown bamboo house in Bali is by Elora Hardy who comes from Bali and she returned there after a 10-year stint in New York. She created the Ibuku company to build bamboo houses in Bali, to prove bamboo as a suitable material for building.
Sharma Springs was designed for the Sharma family as a jungle fantasy escape. It is a 6-level, 4-bedroom 750sqm home overlooking the Ayung river valley, built almost entirely of bamboo.
Hopefully bamboo can be used more in Malaysia in the future.
:D