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Penda's Fastener-Free, Re-usable Bamboo Structural System

By Rain Noe - July 17, 2014

in Materials | Architecture

Something you see a lot of in New York is workers assembling or disassembling a metal scaffold, but you almost never see them made out of new-looking pipes. The banged-up metal is a testament to how much use they see over their lifetimes. In contrast, you'll also see workers assembling and disassembling temporary facades out of 2x4s and CDX, but the difference is, the wood all goes into a garbage dumpster at the end, riddled as they are with screws and screw holes. They don't live to see another day, unlike the metal scaffolding.

Beijing-based architecture firm Penda has made a similar observation by looking at Native American tipis. When it's time to move on, the nomadic owners untied the rope bindings for the pole structure, bundled it together for transport, then put it up somewhere else. The lack of penetrating fasteners means the poles can be re-used indefinitely.

Thus Penda's "One With the Birds" project, which takes the local-to-China material of bamboo and binds it together with rope in a triangular matrix pattern that can then be built out.

With the structure erected, the firm envisions it being filled with triangular "pods" designed for specific functions, i.e. dining, sleeping or eating.

While it obviously takes a good deal more time to put together than toenailing studs into a bottom plate, the process leaves the materials completely reusable, and Penda envisions even tall multi-story structures being built with the system.

It's not a practical project, at least for now; "One With the Birds" was Penda's entry in an international competition to design a tent-based hotel.

The focus was to create a connection which leaves no impact on the site, nor any harm on the bamboo itself, so after the temporary hotel is deconstructed, the materials can be reused as scaffolding on a construction site or reused as another temporary hotel on a different location.

Via Arch Daily

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Toby

10 years ago

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I'm not sure about 'temporary hotels', but in environments where timber bamboo is plentiful, it could be a good design for disaster shelters, refugees, and worker housing for short-term projects (like the construction of more permanent structures).
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Grant Parrinello

10 years ago

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I wonder how easy it is to build. Are cranes required for a two story configuration? I like how the first deck is up off of the ground a bit because that should help with keeping bugs and other pests to a minimum, but I'm assuming the bottom bamboo poles need to be set into the ground for stability.... Something like this is great for low cost rural living. Lightweight materials and easy setup (hopefully).
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Robert

10 years ago

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This reminds me of the domes of the seventies. Enthusiasts raved about material efficiency but the complexities of making them weathertight and the impractical interior spaces ultimately killed the idea. Hard to beat the box.
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