Thread: Bali and the chocolate factory

Bamboo, eco-friendly and strong as steel, is used to build everything from homes to bridges and schools

While Bali’s south coast is being swallowed up by villa and resort developments, there is an innovative green design movement gathering pace on the island. The area in and around Sibang, an off-the-map hamlet between Ubud and Denpasar, has become an unexpected centre for buildings made almost entirely of bamboo. But unlike the bamboo structures that have popped up for centuries throughout Asia and South and Central America, these buildings are resistant to decay and radically innovative.
The principal building of the Green School, a pre-school through 12-grade institution in the centre of Bali, has attracted attention in architecture circles since it opened three years ago. From the outside it’s intriguing enough – three interconnected spiral roofs of thatched grass seem to float 20m above the ground – but only when standing inside its vast open centre does it become apparent that this three-storey building is supported by more than 2,500 bamboo poles.

“Contemporary, organic-inspired, Frank Gehry-style architecture is easily done with bamboo,” says Jörg Stamm, designer of the Green School’s bamboo Kul-Kul bridge, which curves about 22 metres over the Ayung River. “On a smaller scale, bamboo can be used like steel tubes, which are being used to build many contemporary buildings.” Because of its strength and elastic properties, bamboo is often used as scaffolding on building sites in Asian cities such as Hong Kong.

However, an interest in building with bamboo is also booming thanks to its environmental benefits. Studies carried out by civil engineer Jules Janssen at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands show that bamboo has the tensile strength of mild steel, but needs only 1/50th of the energy for processing. Properly harvested and treated bamboo timber can also effectively replace hardwood. Not only does bamboo grow faster, it can be harvested in three to five years versus the 10-15 years for most hardwoods. Yet contrary to popular belief, properly harvested and treated bamboo isn’t necessarily cheaper.

“At the end of the day bamboo is not that much cheaper than steel,” says Stamm. “It’s a difficult and costly process to select, harvest and transport the right bamboo timber in a sustainable way.”
Much of the technical know-how comes from Colombian-based architects and self-taught bamboo experts Oscar Hidalgo-Lopez (who wrote the book Bamboo: The Gift of the Gods) and Simón Vélez, who is credited with inventing a unique bolt system that creates strong and durable joints. He is currently building a bamboo bus terminal, in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, the length of three football fields.
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See the full story with photos of the Ayung River Bridge and other structures at Bali and the chocolate factory - FT.com