Building with Bamboo: Embrace it!
Building with bamboo has been a centuries old technique, particularly in Asia where the native woody grass is most prevalent. Renewed interest in building with bamboo has come to the western world on the wave of enthusiasm for green building and technology that is sweeping the nation in efforts to right the wrongs of environmental damage the United States is largely responsible for worldwide. One American artist, inventor and bamboo enthusiasist is Joshua H. Doolittle, brought me into the wise ways of bamboo innovation while we were both at The Farm, the oldest American intentional community and Ecovillage, in Summertown, Tennessee. Invited by renowned permaculturist, Albert Bates, resident of The Farm- Doolittle created several prototypes for his bamboo structures with the help of intern Dain Slatton and I was happy enough to take pictures and listen to the industrious characteristics of our often overlooked and underrated friend of the forest: bamboo.
Joshua H. Doolittle
The millenia old history and amazing tensile strength of bamboo are facets of this story, I'll leave to you to look up. Or better yet, ask Doolittle. He is a mine of information on the subject and you can find his contact information on his website, www.bambitat.com.
Skipping to the main controversy when it comes to the subject of using bamboo as a building material, aside from its profound strength, easy growth and prevalance, cheap cost, and environmental wonders it performs for the soil it grows in- is that fact that it has a tendency to split longituditly. The splitting and cracking of a load bearing beam in your newly built green home is not a desirable thing so bamboo has been written off as a more decorative material. However, Doolittle has come up with a design capitalitizing on bamboo's tendency to split into long, slender strips by binding the strips into one solid beam surpassing the strength of steel.
The designs he has created draw from Zen Buddhism and the circular, organic nature of Nature itself. His "Chi-Bagodas" are a hybrid of chi and pagoda and you can find out more about it on his website, definitely check out the Powerpoint presentation! The point is, that in the world of natural building, building with bamboo is a relatively easy and hassle free way of creating a sound, beautiful, and eco-friendly structure that doesn't require a whole village to mix vats of heavy clay and straw together, which is the most common method.
Incorporating bamboo strips into a variation of straw building is another technique that is efficient and easy to do, not requiring intensive labor or heavy lifting. While at permaculturalist and natural builder Matt English's house- we learned how bamboo strips can be used to grip a mixture of straw covered in red clay slurry to keep its form and create a substantial wall in a matter of a few hours. By nailing the bamboo strips along the inside of wooden framing longways and then placing shorter strips horizontally, in between the frames, the clay covered straw was packed down in between two sheets of plywood which held the straw together as the wall was being built and then removed afterwards. The bamboo kept it all in place and once dry, the wall is covered with a lime plaster and is completely pest and weather resistant. Not to mention, well insulated. Find out more at www.holisticecology.org, both he and his wife Jennifer are activists and educators and offer a variety of workshops and events near or at The Farm in rural Tennessee, www.thefarm.org.
There are many resources and materials out there on the subject of buildiing green with bamboo. If you have a remodel or new building project on your horizon, why not check it out? Bamboo grows well in a variety of climates and whether you use it as a floor or wall support or for the entire structure of your building, know that it is a feasible, viable and smart choice in building materials. If you have any questions, hit up Doolittle at www.bambitat.com or check out English at www.holisticecology.com.
