Agriculture.ph Blog

The bamboo’s place in a modern house

“Pliant like the bamboo” is a phrase often used to describe the Filipino. This is because of the Filipino’s ability to bend without breaking, to withstand the storms of circumstances, and ultimately come out the winner. While we have found credence in these qualities of the bamboo and the Filipino, we have likewise been drawn to its beauty and grace and would always opt to plant bamboo when given the opportunity and space.

Our interest, however, in bamboo as more than a lovely tree started when we read some years ago of a powerful earthquake that struck Sichuan province in Central China. With almost 70,000 killed in the earthquake and 1.5 million homeless, the Chinese government was at a loss to provide temporary housing in a matter of days.

We read of designer Ming Tang who came up with the idea of folding houses that looked like origami and utilized bamboo. He used bamboo poles, assembled into rigid geometric shapes that could easily be transported and re-assembled at the final site. They were then covered with recycled paper.
The Chinese government approved a fast track where these pre-fabricated bamboo temporary shelters could be built.

The project demonstrated not only to the Chinese but to the rest of the construction industry the rare qualities of the bamboo – how its lightweight and elastic properties are adept in resisting earthquake aftershocks. Its success undoubtedly gave rise to a fast-growing temporary shelter industry using bamboo especially in earthquake prone countries like Japan and China.

But the permanent housing industry was another matter. Bamboo was material for décor, one that spruced up a bathroom and gave an exotic look to a living room. But it couldn’t be accepted yet as building material. At a conference on non-conventional materials and technologies held in held in Vietnam in 2002, discussions were held on the research on various ways that can make bamboo an accepted construction material in the USA.

Proponents of the studies are looking for the means to makes these bamboo houses meet the building code standards of the Western world. They are also working at coming up with the first internationally accepted grading system for bamboo.

With all these in our mind bank, you can just imagine our excitement at stumbling into what appeared to be an all-bamboo house on the main street of Liliw, Laguna almost adjacent to the church entrance. It stood out in all its glory beside commercial establishments and buildings. We were told the owner was out of town, would return late, but we could come over the following day if we wanted to catch her.

Lydia Cortez Lugada is a school nurse at the Laguna Polytechnic State University and she commutes daily between work and home. She told us her parents were farmers and she had always remembered the small house of bamboo in the fields. Because her father had an artistic bent, he decorated the bamboo house with other items mostly also of bamboo, nipa and other native material.

When Lydia acquired the property near a place where she was already living, she thought of duplicating the farm house, “ang bahay namin sa bukid,” as she calls it.

Without any architect, engineer, contractor, or interior designer, she went ahead and did some drawings. She called a few trusted carpenters and proceeded to build her bamboo house in the year 2000. It has a concrete foundation, and utilizes hardwood and other materials like sawali for walls and under roofing. But for Lydia and those who stop by to marvel at it, this home will always be the Bamboo House.

As construction proceeded, Lydia remembers seeking out those whose homes she had admired; artisans and craftsmen whose reputations in Laguna were well known. She sought out a window maker in Nagcarlan and recalls asking him to integrate protective metal bars that should be camouflaged by the bamboo. She also consulted with another craftsman from Calauan.

Even in the plants in her small garden in front of the house, she has no preferences, no biases. “Pa tanim tanim lang,” she tells us.

Lydia confesses that she is amazed at the number of people who stop to admire her house of bamboo. “Simple lang naman itong bahay,” she says.

She admits that a bamboo house would not be for everyone. One has to be vigilant against the termites, bukbok, and unos, which are the most rabid enemies of bamboo. One has to have regular maintenance and treatment against these insects.

Apart from nursing, Lydia has a bakery business right beside her house with a branch in Majayjay. A friend offers the information that she is also into building and selling of houses which she neither admits nor denies.

The researchers in Vietnam and in China who are into studying the possibilities of using bamboo as material for houses, now come to mind. We now have this urge to point out to this little house in Liliw to them. We are certain Lydia would be happy to share with them her experiences in building her own house with just a handful of carpenters.

Email the author at bibsycarballo@yahoo.com

Written by Bibsy Carballo

Source: Manila Bulletin