Background

As paradoxical as it sounds, journeying backward is in fact the key of moving forward. Perchance the saying “going back to the roots” best describes this contingency. The initial uses of bamboo date back over 4 millennia ago in Asia. Even until this present moment, traces of our early vernacular houses (see Image 2.1) can still be sighted in all quarters of Malaysia. These dwellings were in most cases found resting on timber stilts and are made of materials attainable from our (once) vast tropical forests, namely timber, rattan, bamboo and leaves. Therefore, it’s rather peculiar to acquaint the public about bamboo because it was never before foreign to us.

Image 2.1

Traditional Dayak-Kadazan Bamboo House in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Turning now to the Chinese history, bamboo played an equally vital role in molding their culture. Its quick regeneration ability was deemed as an indication of success and healthy sustenance in the widely practised Feng Shui principle. In 104 CE, Chinese eunuch, Cai Lun of Han dynasty (see Image 2.2) utilised the inner pulp of bamboo to produce the very first paper ever. Apart from the construction purposes, bamboo was also employed in making furniture, dishes, handicrafts, and musical instruments (see Image 2.3). In short, bamboo and the Chinese history are literally inseparable, so entwined that American missionary and explorer of China, William Edgar Geil described:

“A man can sit in a bamboo house under a bamboo roof, on a bamboo chair at a bamboo table, with a bamboo hat on his head and bamboo sandals on his feet. He can at the same time hold in one hand a bamboo bowl, in the other hand bamboo chopsticks and eat bamboo sprouts. When through with his meal, which has been cooked over a bamboo fire, the table may be washed with a bamboo cloth, and he can fan himself with a bamboo fan, take a siesta on a bamboo bed, lying on a bamboo mat with his head resting on a bamboo pillow. His child might be lying in a bamboo cradle, playing with a bamboo toy. On rising he would smoke a bamboo pipe and taking a bamboo pen, write on bamboo paper, or carry his articles in bamboo baskets suspended from a bamboo pole, with a bamboo umbrella over his head. He might then take a walk over a bamboo suspension bridge, drink water from a bamboo ladle, and scrape himself with a bamboo scraper”. (Geil, 1908)

  

Image 2.2

Pictorial Depiction of Eunuch Cai Lun

Image 2.3

Chinese Bamboo Flute

Conjointly, many other Asian cultures too have long history in utilizing bamboo. Today, at least a quarter of the world’s population still depends on bamboo for many objects used in daily life (Malin, 2006). It is however most saddening when all these present uses are of purposes unrelated to building. Perhaps one can presume that bamboo’s sturdy and flexible attributes have yet to receive the public’s acknowledgement.

In spite of everything, ancient builders have demonstrated that bamboo is without a doubt fit for construction. Sadly, for the fantastic celebration of concrete and steel, bamboo is easily overlooked when one speaks of contemporary design. The society doesn’t give bamboo the consideration it deserves. In partly developed countries like Malaysia, bamboo is looked upon with distrust and reluctance as a strange material that belonged to a bygone era, unfamiliar in modern building customs. But considering that most of the common and presently used materials have become accepted over time, how is it possible that bamboo is yet welcomed?

As defined by the dictionary, bamboo is a species of flowering perennial plants from the grass family Poaceae, with the giant bamboos being its largest members. They grow profusely throughout Asia and South America, making them the major exports of bamboo to Europe and North America annually. While different nations have dissimilar preferences of bamboo when it comes to construction, Guadua (guadua angustifolia) is for certain the most broadly adopted species due to its exceptional hardness (see Image 2.4). 

Image 2.4

Guadua Plantation

At this point of time where environmentally, economically and socially sustainable designs are so fundamental, architects began to ponder the plausible advancement of new technologies and the readoption of traditional materials to confront sustainability affairs not only from the energy efficient approach but also through the use of natural materials.