Learning from Bamboo: Building a Bamboo Structure Collectively

Abstract

In this article, we explain the experience of building a bamboo garden house out of Bambusa oldhamii in Central Florida. We define the bamboo's characteristics-a strong, fast-growing and lightweight material and the best way to harvest it. And we explain the design process of the structure, that is freestanding and the connections are done with lashing. The learning and building process is described and we understand this experience as an opportunity to learn how to think in a systemic way, having Buckminster Fuller as a reference. The choice of using a local and renewable material and building in a collective way are all part of the design.

Rohingya Refugee Camps and Forest Loss in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh: An Inquiry using Remote Sensing and Econometric Approaches

“…Where possible, bamboo farming enterprise could reduce economic vulnerability and prevent environmental degradation in Cox's Bazar. More specifically, a bamboo farm will generate sustainable solutions for meeting the refugees' shelter needs, generating income for Bangladeshis, and significantly contributing to climate change mitigation through the incredible carbon sequestration and storage capacities of treated bamboo materials used in building construction (Correal, 2019;Huang, Ji, & Yu, 2019;Silva, Farbiarz, & Silvasy, 2019;Trujillo & López, 2019;Yuen, Fung, & Ziegler, 2017). To assess the complexities of this sustainable enterprise, we recommend a follow-up cost-benefit analysis study to evaluate the net benefit of bamboo for sustainable shelter and climate change mitigation in Cox's Bazar.…”