GUWAHATI, June 13: New-age construction methods, structural stability and earthquake-resistance are lifting up the image of bamboo from just a cheap building material to a viable one. Now, teaming up with steel and concrete and glass, bamboo will be seen in modern constructions across the city and the rest of the region.
"Bamboo has been used by the people here for ages, but had acquired the image of a `poor man’s timber’, unfit for large stable and modern houses," remarked Kamesh Salam, project co-ordinator of the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre, which has put up these structures for various groups. "On the contrary, bamboo has great structural stability and can be used with other building materials, as has been the practice in other countries," he added.
The office of the BDO, Dimoria in Sonapur, is one of these structures. Apart from the foundation, which is concrete, the single-storey structure is made of bamboo. The tall grass was inserted into the concrete foundation, holes were bored and concrete was poured into the bamboo pillars to fuse them with the foundation, giving them stability. "This method, called Bahareque, has been used to put up amazing bamboo buildings worldwide," Salam revealed.
The walls contain chicken mesh plastered over by cement. Incidentally, the roof girders are also bamboo, joined at the top by iron plates. The roof is bamboo as well.
Split bamboo can double up as walls, as the case with an ultra-modern looking food kiosk, put up by the Centre for NERAMAC. The entire structure is a minimalist bamboo-and-glass creation, and will be making a public appearance at the ASTC premises in Paltanbazar shortly. Other buildings include a yoga pavilion at the Maria Montessori School at Geetanagar, a poultry shed for the Assam Livestock Corporation, Khanapara and a new-look office-cum-reception area for the State Administrative Staff College.
Although all these buildings are by organizations and the government, private citizens can take heart: at Rs 200 to 250 per square feet, ethnic and comfortable houses of good old bholuka bamboo cost a fraction of brick and cement, and last well against insects and the elements, since the material is treated with boric acid and creosote oil.
Bamboo constructions are moving further afield. Bank-rolled by the NEC and the Nagaland Government, the Centre is looking at a Naga Heritage Village, complete with a bamboo restaurant, at Kisema. The bamboo structures in the city have been aided by the National Bamboo Mission on Bamboo Applications under the Union Department of Science and Technology.
However, a few misconceptions are to be set right. "A bamboo house is not entirely of bamboo, but includes glass, iron and concrete, as is the practice in Columbia, Costa Rica and Thailand, which have shown the way," remarked Salam.
Another knotty issue is certification of the bamboo houses, which are not covered by the National Building Code. The Technology Centre has signed an MoU with the Building Materials Promotion Council to work on this matter with the government.