Bamboo - Outline

1.0 Introduction

• Malaysia, like many other countries – faces handful of issues regarding architecture
• Future of architecture remains uncertain – heading a direction that isn’t clear
• No uniform effort by architects and developers (to build country together) – design to merely build one’s identity and style
• Causes the absence of a national identity/national architecture – important as semblance of nation and inhabitants
• Emerging environmental issues like global warming, thinning of ozone, scarcity of natural resources – new buildings constrained to take considerations – reduce impact
• Bamboo is possibly an answer to these

2.0 Background

• Introducing bamboo – a group of perenial (plant that lives more than 2 years) evergreens in the true grass family Poacaea
• Used since a long way back in Asian history (food, building, furniture). Seen as cultural material that has root in Asian vernacular architecture – rediscovered today
• Bamboo grows profusely throughout Asia, most bamboo exports to North America are from China and Vietnam
• Farmers gradually replace current platation with bamboo, it’s more profitable
• Now gaining popularity in many parts of the world, including Western Europe and all over America – believed to have potential to be environmentally sustainable building material
• Approximately 50 types of bamboo can be used for construction, mainly use Guadua (a species of giant bamboo)
• Guadua is hard as wood, has hollow body making it light, anti-seismic resistance (earthquake/vibration), low cost, easy to handle

3.1 A Promising Solution for the Environment

• There is a great possibility that Green technology being a big part of Malaysian architecture in the near future
• Existing issues directed architecture to a Green-er approach - sustainable design became a practical option
• Definition: Sustainable buildings are healthier, more comfortable, more durable, and more energy efficient and have a much smaller environmental footprint throughout their life cycle than conventional buildings. (Includes siting & structure design efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency, materials efficiency, indoor environmental quality enhancement, operation & maintenance, waste reduction) Close cooperation between three main players – architect, engineer and client is required from the beginning
• Green technology began 40 years ago when Henri Becquerel invented photovoltaic power during the industrial revolution
• Green alone does not mean sustainability, but merely consumes or emits less than a predetermined benchmark
• Sustainable means consuming or emitting no faster than what can be replaced and repaired naturally (no harm to environment)
• Green building in Asia requires several qualifications
• To earn certificate, a building secures credits to comply with a checklist of terms
• Certification costs money and time. However, it promises saving and a measure of status
• The trend of Green architecture in Asia emerges very suddenly, much is driven by the formation of Green Building Councils (GBCs) and its rating tools in 2002
• These assessment tools became game changer in market. Example: Singapore’s GBCs – Green Mark is one of the few government-owned Green council in Asia (launched 2005). Since 2008, all new buildings are compulsory to be certified. Results in 2011 – 25 million square metres of Green Mark certified space (12% of Singapore’s total built space)
• China announced having 200 certified buildings, another 300 under construction. LEED-certified space in India leaped from 1800 square metres in 2003 to 2.3 million square metres in 2010. In 2009, over 200 buildings in Hong Kong were HK-BEAM certified
• Year-to-year annual reports suggest increament in certification number
• Green improves building performance in relation to known costs – interests developers and owners.
• Green appears as great opportunity to governments. Over 40% of all energy and 25% of water consumed within a country is by its building sector. 80% of all energy used by a building is in its operations. A big drop in energy consumption eliminates national dependency on imports, possibly removing the need to expand utilities infrastructure – solution for energy and water security
• Apparent climate changes became every government’s concern. Urges decreament target in emission. India – reduce 24% of carbon intensity by 2020; China reduce 40%; Taiwan created 4 low carbon regions. All these targets cannot be met without involving building sector
• Growing Green trends in many parts of Asia pressed Malaysia to walk the similar path
• Replace wood with bamboo is a clever way to aid the environment
• Bamboo is ecological alternative to wood for construction
• Bamboo has better tensile and compressive strength than wood
• No plants grow faster than bamboo, capable of up to 1.25m growth in 24 hours (easily regenerated)
• Tree takes 20-60 years for harvest, bamboo only 3 years. Cutting bamboo doesn’t kill the plant, can be reharvested every 3 years without damaging it or surrounding.
• During regeneration, root stays intact, prevents erosion
• Will regrow with denser fiber – most effective renewable resource
• Saves cutting trees, prevents deforestation
• Bamboo sequesters 4 times more carbon than trees, mitigates greenhouse effect
• According to the people at the Zero Emissions Research Institute (ZERI), bamboo forest can sequester 17 times as much carbon as typical tree forest
• Unless replacing natural forest, bamboo forest comes with positive environmental balance
• Bamboo can be planted locally, doesn’t require preservative or shipment (saves cost and fuels)
• However, requires different type of treatment than of wood
• Can be done using environmentally friendly methods – remove starch and sugar (attract insects) using smoking method – smoke cut bamboos using fire fueled by bamboos
• Smoking process also makes bamboo much denser (stronger)
• To protect against decay, bamboo bathed in boric salts (non-hazardous) and coated with a finish that emits no volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Nothing goes to waste, leaves used to feed livestock
• Beginning a decade ago, bamboo flooring has become a serious contender in hardwood flooring market

3.2 A True Building Material

• Malaysia has yet to have a known building material that can satisfy both climate and economic circumstances
• Equatorial weather – high temperature, heavy rainfall, humid all year. Buildings are constrained to take considerations of these conditions to attain comfortable living
• Bricks are cheap and easily available but have high latent heat properties – collect heat during day and release at night (Not suitable for tropical setting)
• Wood has best scientific benefits for tropical country – captures and releases heat quickly
• Wood’s setbacks: not consistent in characteristics because it’s natural; only selected type of timber can be used for construction; highly skilled labour and advanced technology are required to produce volume sufficient to cater for industry; has to be treated to become weatherproof
• Scarcity due to depletion of forest makes wood costly and cannot be used as exensively as bricks
• Bamboo can be an alternative material – renewable and inexpensive resource
• Can be used as walls, support structures, roofing and flooring
• Bamboo is naturally designed for strength and durability– with no rays and knots like wood, it can withstand more strength
• High silica content – cannot be digested by termites
• Bamboo contains different chemical extractives than hardwood, which make it better suited for gluing 
• Structural engineering test conducted - Higher tensile strength than many alloys of steel, higher compressive strength than many mixtures of concrete (can totally replace metal structure)
• Lighter than steel, shape makes it easily transported
• Dense fibers in each bamboo give it flexibility, able to bend without snapping
• Bamboo absorbs heat readily and releases quickly like wood. If bamboo replaced bricks, can be used as a passive cooling solution, cut down the need for air conditioning (great for tropical climate that is hot and humid)
• The roundness of  the bamboo means that the joints may be geometrically complex
• Fortunately, Colombian prize-winning architect, Simon Velez uses bamboo as primary construction material. Invented many bamboo joineries (fish mouth joinery) and proved bamboo as sustainable material
• Bamboo can only be used for low rise buildings – cannot replace load bearing strength possessed by reinforced concrete
• Cannot replace concrete floor - ability to bend without breaking makes it unsuitable for building floor structures due to a very low tolerance for deflection
• Similar to wood, bamboo as natural material is not consistent in characteristics and properties
• Application of bamboo in design is still developing, more new applications to be expected

3.3 Search for National Identity

• Malaysia was devoured by an unfamiliar and foreign architecture culture that was brought in by local architects that were educated and trained in western countries
• Used education abroad to spread International Style architecture in Malaysia
• The need to keep up with rapid growth of economy and population did not give local architects time to explore and experiment architecture – the style was therefore brought forward
• Owing to western influence, local architects developed interest for western concept – resulting loss of focus for regional architecture
• Malaysia has rich and interesting cultures and history – can be made as references when planning an architecture
• National buildings should reflect our brand of architecture
• Critical Regionalism – take building’s environmental context into consideration rather than having a soulless free-standing building which lacks identity
• Architecture in Malaysia should take account from all respects, including climate, culture etc
• Malaysia’s oldfangled traditional architecture requires refinement and development to keep up with the present day context
• Several attempts were made to develop image of national architecture
• Example: National Museum is described as direct adaptation of identifiable vernacular element of a traditional Malay house  - Minangkabau roof topped a typical modern construction - superficial implant of vernacular element
• Frank Lloyd Wright believes architecture should grow out of its surroundings
• Naturally gives architecture local uniqueness – forming national identity
• Using material that satisfy Malaysia’s circumstances (climate, economic, history etc) and available locally – bamboo
• Bamboo’s flexibility and light weight allow architects to easily break free from conventional design
• Various Columbian architects perfected ways to join bamboos to build huge structure

3.4 Educating the Public

• Bamboo always perceived as “wood of the poor”, not accepted because it’s a poor measure of social level
• People could only imagine salad bowls, basket and chopsticks when speaking of bamboo, couldn’t see potential in building construction
• Only seen as temporary structures (scaffolding and pavillions)
• Necessary to convince/persuade public to use or accept bamboo, by proving their benefits
• Prove it’s the right way forward as a potential sustainable building material
• (Conduct online survey on public’s acceptance of bamboo as building material)
• To change poor understanding of people – is to set examples – seeing is believing
• Laymen are not interested in technical aspects (green features, bamboo’s lightweight and strength), but instead an aesthetically remarkable bamboo architecture – more impactful in educating
• Change opinion of public that bamboo is not only limited to old fashioned designs, but can be made into complicated comtemporary forms
• First hand experience of cooler temperature inside a bamboo building without air conditioner
• Example: In 1920, many Europeans traveled to little islands of Indonesia, bamboo resorts were created to house vacationers – changed perception from poor to exotic and interesting
• Bamboo lacks support from government – needs to be recognised as an official construction material and sustainable