Blooming Bamboo Home

By Team IAnD
Photography: Doan Thanh Ha; courtesy H&P Architects

Blooming Bamboo Home

H&P Architects from Vietnam provide an effective solution to “emergency housing” with this simple self-assembly home that can be mass produced at a total cost of only 2500$ in a span of 25 days…

Last month, we featured a user-at-the-centre project interface by H & P Architects, talking about synergies and symbiotic architectural practices. We are back with another project from these socially responsible architects, who offer the world a sustainable solution at a time when needed most; when everything from manpower, resources, time and one’s wit is challenged to its optimum – during a crisis. 

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In Vietnam, the natural phenomena are severe and various: storm, flood, sweeping floods, landslides, drought, etc... The damage every year, which is considerable compared to the world scale, takes away about 500 persons and 1.2%-GDP - equally assets, and greatly affects the development of the areas involved.

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BB (Blooming Bamboo) home is merely one solution to housing for millions of these people in calamity-hit locations.

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The prototype has just been completed last month in Cau Dien Town, Tu Liem District, Ha Noi, Vietnam. From the bamboo module of f8-f10cm & f4-f5cm diameter and 3.3m or 6.6 length, each house is simply assembled with bolting, binding, hanging, placing... This pulled monolithic architecture is strong enough to suffer from phenomena like 1.5m-high floods.

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Occupying a total floor area of 44 sq.m., the space is multifunctional viz., house, educational centre, medical facility and community centre and can be spread out or added on to, when necessary.

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From the fixed frame using f8-f10cm bamboo, the house cover can be finished according to its local climate and regional materials (f4-f5cm small bamboo, bamboo wattle, fibre-board, coconut leaf...) in order to create vernacular architecture.

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The users can build the house by themselves in 25 days. Besides, it can be mass produced by duplicating the same modules and the total cost of the house is only 2500$. Therefore, the house can warm people in the most severe conditions; it can also remarkably contribute to ecological development as well as economic stabilization, forging strong connect between vernacular culture and architecture.

Currently, H&P Architects are experimenting with the model to suffer 3m-high floods.

Website: www.hpa.vn