How to Build a Future with Grass? On the Indonesian island of Bali, one organization has set itself the goal of doing just that. Ibuku, an architecture and furniture design firm based outside Denpasar, Bali uses bamboo to construct Green Village. Ibuku combines ecological construction with renewable materials.
Bamboo can also be a sustainable and renewable alternative to wood, making it a viable option to give depleted forests a break. And it grows spectacularly fast. Hardy says she’s seen bamboo—which is definitely a form of wild grass—grow 1 meter (3.2 feet) in a single week. Some species have grown as much as 2 inches an hour, or 1.5 meters a day.
Although bamboo has been used for 1000’s of years all over the world in construction and crafts, its structures are generally not durable enough to be considered a everlasting material.
Ibuku’s solution to this problem is a boron solution, which lowers the glucose level and makes it inedible to insects.
According to the Ibuku team, “If bamboo is well-selected, properly treated, fastidiously designed and maintained, a bamboo house can last a lifetime. Bamboo houses are designed and built to avoid prolonged exposure to sun and rain, and are painted with a weather-resistant coating.”
Hardy’s father, JanCanadian expatriate, was one in every of the pioneers who took the practice to latest heights in Indonesia. He and his wife founded an all-bamboo campus green School within the Bali jungle in 2006, where a laboratory was set as much as experiment with bamboo construction and engineering.
Hardy said she was in awe of her father’s work and felt it was a way for her to get entangled within the sustainable development of the industry.
Born and raised in Indonesia, Hardy now collaborates with local Indonesian architects, engineers, designers, craftsmen and artists to create over 50 handcrafted, personalized buildings.
“The architects on my team are extraordinary. They approached us to engage in something creative and unique. Some of them have been working with bamboo since childhood, creating temporary structures for Balinese cultural ceremonies, others are fresh out of architecture school and we simply need to shake their minds out of the mindset shaped by their architectural training,” Hardy tells Quartz.
Their team already has luxury villas, houses, schools and infrastructure buildings in its portfolio and is understood for its commitment to using traditional Indonesian constructing techniques.
Source: Quartz | National Geographic | Inhabitat
