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EXPLORING BAMBOO
A few years ago an opportunity was presented to explore and work with bamboo as a material for the structural application. The direction taken was to use geometry and traditional bamboo and cane weaving / basketry techniques to come up with concepts for lightweight structural applications which can be easily replicated using the small hand held tools in remote areas.
Bamboo strips for Bambusa Bamboo a variety of hollow Bamboo pole native to the Indian North-East region was used.
The strips were cut longitudinally and tied with metal wires at junctions passed through drilled holes, this was further arranged in a mesh. The mesh was quite flexible and strong, this gave way to the idea of weaving the strips in a traditional basketry form to achieve a self-standing and light weight structure.
Using the traditional basket weaving technique as inspiration.
Replicating the weave pattern.
The final product an display.
Using the traditional basket weaving technique as inspiration.
A traditional hexagonal cane basketry technique, from the region of Nagaland was chosen for this exploration. The weave pattern has six points where three points touch the ground and the rest get elevated creating an interesting and stable structural form.
The technique has application as a modular and an extremely lightweight structure for disaster-hit areas, refugee camps, and other temporary shelters.
Further explorations were carried out using tensegrity models and Dendrocalamus Strictus, a solid and native variety of bamboo. These have a high tensile strength and haven't been explored to their fullest.
The assembly of the bamboo peg and the pole with the nylon ropes.
The complex assembly and array of members on display.
The full assembly on display.
The assembly of the bamboo peg and the pole with the nylon ropes.
A tensegrity model was developed comprising an icosahedron, a tetrahedron, and an octahedron. Uniform and straightened bamboo poles of 1m length, handmade bamboo pegs and nylon ropes were used.
A mockup was created first and it was decided to assemble the three geometric forms individually and then join them together which was easier since the overall height of the assembly was 3.5m.
This whole process and the versatility of the material was so inspiring that I decided to further work using bamboo to make furniture and lighting fixtures and also become part of a training workshop under National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and the Tribal Development Program, Govt. of Gujarat which was organised to train tribal people in bamboo techniques and products for skill and livelihood development.
The product below 'Triplit' was also developed in the tribal workshop in collaboration with artisans, using their intrinsic skills, to come up with a modern approach for a range of lighting fixture.
Later, I got the opportunity to take this interest in bamboo a level further. Sponsored by National Institute of Design, Bangalore I was part of a three member team which undertook an extensive documentation of bamboo crafts and techniques in the South Indian regions of Sagara and Thrikepetta.
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