Bamboo Houses: Costs and Benefits

The use of this completely sustainable material is growing rapidly in Italy too. A bamboo house is durable, flexible, and affordable.

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Gazebos, pergolas, and even houses. Bamboo constructions are also growing significantly in Italy, combining a truly sustainable raw material with high-quality craftsmanship. And they're competing with straw houses.

BAMBOO HOUSES

Bamboo buildings offer several very important advantages. They are so durable that bamboo is sometimes called "vegetable steel." This material varies in diameter from 15 to 20 centimeters, and the culm wall can be more than 5 centimeters thick. Bamboo is ideal for construction in seismic zones. Furthermore, bamboo houses are inexpensive, have excellent air circulation in warmer seasons, and are well-protected during colder periods.

READ ALSO: SaDiLegno, Samuele Giacometti's sustainable and welcoming wooden house

CHARACTERISTICS OF BAMBOO

But bamboo has other characteristics that make it a highly sustainable material, unlike wood, which leads to deforestation . The plants from which the material for bamboo homes and furniture and construction in general is obtained are between 3 and 4 years old, precisely to meet the characteristics we've mentioned. But bamboo grows at a lightning speed: it can reach twenty meters in height in just eight months. Bamboo doesn't require chemical fertilizers to grow, it's recyclable, and its disposal is much easier than other building materials.

ADVANTAGES OF BAMBOO

Bamboo has many advantages, even when it's first grown. One hectare of bamboo, for example, produces as much oxygen as an entire forest. Its dense, solid underground rhizomes drain rainwater and compact the soil. Bamboo is highly fire-resistant, flexible yet sturdy, can withstand very low temperatures, and the entire plant (shoots, stems, and leaves) is usable. Finally, bamboo absorbs and filters all heavy metals, so much so that it's recommended as a plant for growing in abandoned and polluted industrial areas.

HOW MUCH DOES A BAMBOO HOUSE COST?

The cost of a bamboo house is very low and variable. Much depends on the location, the design characteristics, and the mix of bamboo and other materials. A very interesting low-cost bamboo construction project was completed in Cambodia, where public housing needed to be built that could withstand floods and earthquakes.
The project draws on traditional techniques, with a raised first floor for flood protection, a split roof for increased ventilation and overhanging roof, and an angled façade for environmental protection. The design incorporates innovative methods of pre-casting the concrete pillars on site to ensure quality, safety, and reduce waste. Finally, the walls are made of sustainable bamboo and wood, enhancing the indoor climate.

Created by Atelier Cole Building Trust International , they are called “Frameworks house” and can be reproduced throughout the rest of the world.

The cost of a bamboo house is very low and variable: to have a reference value, browsing the site of Bamboo living , one of the most important companies in the construction and furnishing of this type of house, it turns out that a basic model, with bedroom, living room, bathroom and large windows, costs around 10 thousand euros.

READ MORE: Wooden skyscrapers, the most beautiful in the world

SITES FOR BUILDING WITH BAMBOO

You can find a wealth of information about bamboo construction online and make your own assessments. Here are some useful sites :

  • www.bambuseto.it Founded in 2010, this company specializes in Italian-made bamboo constructions. They design and build, and even have their own bamboo forest.
  • www.madeinbamboo.com  It's a network that brings together growers and companies that use bamboo for construction. It's essentially the place where the entire supply chain for this plant and its uses resides online.
  • www.buildenergia.com A portal on sustainable architecture with lots of useful information about bamboo and ways to use it without wasting it.
  • www.bambuitalia.it The association that brings together bamboo producing companies.

INBAR ASSOCIATION

The increasingly widespread use of bamboo has led to the creation of aintergovernmental association, Inbar, recognized by the UN and based in Beijing, which brings together 41 bamboo-producing countries, led by China and followed by the European Union. Inbar also has regional offices in India, Ecuador, Ghana, and Ethiopia, and through these countries' alliance, it seeks to support bamboo-producing countries, usually poor. This includes encouraging its use in nations like Nepal, which have been severely affected by earthquakes and floods: bamboo grows in 73 of the country's 75 districts, and if it were not wasted, it could change Nepal's fortunes.
(Image source: Atelier Cole)

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