Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

Experimenting Bamboo as an Architectural & SocioCultural Feature

Case Study: The Bamboo House at Eco-Pesantren Daarut Tauhiid, West Bandung, West-Java, Indonesia

Ph.D., Budi FAISAL

Lecturer - Architectural Design Research Group School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development Institute of Technology Bandung INDONESIA budifsl@yahoo.com

S.T., Putri KINASIH

Junior Architect KFA Studio, Bandung INDONESIA putrikinasih@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
A house can be defined as merely a dwelling, or beyond. Further, it is a unique association of people, culture, and technology; since its creation is often derived from the basic understanding of the user (people), the habit (culture), and the building technology. The basic idea of this house is to create a sustainable living space using bamboo as an ignored indigenous material. This house featured bamboo as the main building material since it has become one of the most famous indigenous materials in West-Java for ages. For the Sundanese, bamboo is the expression of their creative well-being through the art of craftsmanship. As a building material, bamboo is considered as one of the sustainable materials for its renewability, restorability, and versatility. It is also well-known for its forming flexibility, resistance of earthquake, low construction cost, and its abundance. In this house, bamboo is utilized both as structural and ornamental elements used in interior and exterior of the house as column, flooring, wall, stairs, and blinds. Its combination with modern materials (concrete, masonry, steel) creates a rich visual experience within the house. To create a sustainable building is to ensure its sustainability capability in its design process, construction methods, and materials used furthermore, in its ability of altering the users lifestyle subtly. Designed as an eco-responsive building, the house was planned to have minimum interference with the nature. The 9 existing 37 years old clove trees within the site are preserved and the buildings ground level is elevated. This house is managed to use the natural air flow and lighting, taking advantage from the abundant sunlight of tropical area and fresh natural mountain breeze. By preserving the bamboo-tradition, the house is also inexplicitly preserving the collective creativity of its native society. Keywords: house, bamboo, environment-friendly, indigenous material, sustainable material, collective creativity
Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

THE USE OF BAMBOO

As one of the bamboo-producing countries in the world, Indonesia has become the house for 1/10 of worlds bamboo species, i.e. approximately 159 species, with 58 of it are cultivated in Java.1 Bamboo has been known as one of the non-wood forest product for so long. Its association with several local customs has also been recognized for centuries, including its association with Sundanese local customs. Bamboo is also well-known for its versatility. The indigenous knowledge on bamboo has been known for ages. The bamboos are used from the beginning of human life when they cut the umbilical cord with bamboo knife, make bamboo bed, cabinet, cooking utensils, to construct bridges and houses, several handicrafts, and the coffins. The Hindus in Bali use bamboos for the ceremony penjor, and also for burial ceremony during ngaben. Bamboo is very close to the heart of the local people. So that there is much folklore and folksongs using bamboos as symbols.2 A traditional bamboo houses usually use the large bamboos as its column, bamboo weaving as its wall, and palupuh as its floorings. The joineries between posts, lintels, beams, and roof systems are usually using the knots made from ijuk ropes. These traditional houses are likely to be found mostly in rural areas, where bamboo is abundant. A survey conducted by Barly & Abdurochim (1982) shows that according to the multistage-stratified-random-sampling method, among 124 surveyed houses in West Java, 93 are using bamboo as the main building material. Mostly, bamboo is used as the roofing system. In traditional house, Bamboo is also used for columns, walls, and floorings. Similar research was also conducted by Sumerni & Ismanto (1989), differs the geographical conditions between 3 Municipalities in West Java. The surveys proved that 81 94 % of the buildings utilize bamboo as housing components. Nowadays, bamboo craftsmanship in West Java is heading to extinction, not only the traditional music instruments craftsmanship, but also the bamboo-weaving craftsmanship. As the globalization washes away the tradition, the traditional bamboo craftsmen are losing their apprentices too, leaves the delicate artwork in a critical state.

Figure 1 Traditional House in Kampung Naga, Garut, West Java Source: Kinasih 2009
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Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

Bamboo has an important role in ecology. Its rhizome root system characteristics enable bamboo to protect the hydrologic system binding the soil and water thus, it is classified as a conservation plant. Bamboo cultivation can generate a micro-climate for its surrounding. Whilst in the larger scale and in an adequate timing, it is categorized as a complete ecosystem-unit. The condition within bamboo forest allows the microorganisms to grow in a symbiotic relationship with other food-chain-network. The Environmental Bamboo Foundation in their webpage stated that bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded lands, a peerless erosion control agent, a high-yield renewable resource, and one of the strongest building materials. Moreover, the bamboo stands release 35 % more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. It is a very effective cultivation for water conservation, since it is able to absorb 90% of rain water when the other average trees are only able to absorb 35 40%. Not until recently has bamboo ever considered as a modern building material. Previously bamboos image is always correlated with poor mans house materials. However, nowadays as claimed by Jean Dethier in his essay bamboo has become the future building material in a new architectural movement. It is bamboo which brings together architects of the developing countries as equal partner with their counterpart in the developing world. Although its versatility has been popular for centuries, its capability to be used as a modern building material is often questioned. Bamboo is considered as a non-durable material. It is vulnerable to the biotic damages: fungi, bugs, termites, worms. Bamboo is a renewable, restorative, and versatile building material.3 It is stronger than wood or timber in tension and compression. In fact, the tensile-strength of a vascular bundle bamboo-fiber is almost twice as much as the steel. Furthermore, during the Hiroshima bombing in 1945, bamboo is the only plant survived from the radiation of the atomic bomb, when the others were devastated. According to Oscar Hidalgo (2003) the most prominent bamboo researcher bamboo can replace wood or timber in all their applications, but we cannot use wood or timber to make structures that can only be made with bamboo. Its pipe-shaped form enables to increase its inertia. Thus, bamboo is relatively able to bear the torsion-moment well. In addition, its flexible and elastic nature confirms bamboo-structure as an earthquake and wind resistant structure. Although dealing with certain inadequacies non-durable, vulnerable to biotic damages certain researches have been conducted to develop methods of bamboo-strength-enhancement. Bamboo can now be used not only in its basic forms (whole-bamboo, cut-bamboo, and weaved-bamboo) but also in composite forms (composite panels, multiplebamboo/plyboo, bamboo particle board, plastered bamboo, bamboo beam, and busaron).

Figure 2 Bamboo Particle Board (left) and Composite Bamboo Beam (right) Source: Morisco (2009)
Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

FASHIONING SUSTAINABILITY The Global Issue

The first use of the word sustainability in connection with the environment was in 1980s in a publication produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UCN) in Gland, Switzerland, entitled World Conservation Strategy, in which sustainability was inextricably linked to development.4 As the global issue related with environmental degradation and the global climate change comes up, the word sustainable, or sustainability, has now become more popular than it was before. Later on, it is becoming a word describing certain lifestyle, or certain approach, that emphasized ecological and environmental preservation. Thus, sustainable architecture can simply be defined as an ecological-responsive architectural design.5 The National Coordinative Department for Disaster Survival (Bakornas PB) record shows that in Indonesia nowadays natural disasters related to the climate has raised 400% compared to those in 1950 1960s. It is forecasted that 75 250 millions of Africans will suffer for water-insufficiency whilst most cities in Asia will cope with flooding. The worst case scenario is, when the Earths temperature keeps rising, Indonesia will lose approximately 2,200 islands caused by rising of the sea-level. Coastal cities like Jakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya are definitely in danger. And even Banjarmasin, which elevation is under the sea level, might be drowned and lost. The raise of the sea-level will also decrease sea-waters pH and damages the coral-reefs, threatening the marine-ecosystem-chain.6 Architecture is likely playing an important role in facing the environmental degradation. Building design has become an important aspect in responding the global climate change effects. The buildings contribution in the total CO 2 emission reach the number of 40%, including its construction process, material supply, and energy necessity.6 A building should therefore be designed as sustainable as possible to lessen its carbon-footprint. Buildings built in a wellequipped infrastructure, preferably utilizes the existing infrastructures, will be able to fulfill almost all of its users needs (business, school, transportation) without disturbing the existing nature. The less money spent to establish the new infrastructures, and the less unnecessary environmental intervention. Yet creating a sustainable environment in this existing consumptive world might demands more creativity than weve ever thought.

A Perfect Place to Start: House

Architecture can be defined more than just a settlement or shelter for the mankind. It makes tangible meanings; it produces concrete metaphors of the ideals and beliefs of a group. Architecture can provide settings for certain activities; remind people of what this activities are; signify power, status, or privacy; express and support cosmological beliefs, communicate information; help establish individual or groups identity; and encode value systems. Also to separate domains and differentiate between here and there, sacred and profane, men and women, front and back, private and public, habitable and inhabitable, and so forth. The fact is that most people, if asked, would probably say that architecture began as shelter. After all, the first buildings were dwellings, and people need shelter to survive. Yet shelter is not the only, or even the principal, function of housing. 7
Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

Architecture is a language, a physical expression of custom, habit, trend, culture, and even authority. It is a cultural record from the tapestry of humankind. In order to take a part in applying the sustainable-lifestyle, a house is a good example to begin. A house is one of human basic needs besides food and clothing. As the smallest unit of the neighborhood, it has become a place where we learn our first moralities. In regard to environmental awareness, building design, construction methods, and building materials can play an active role in coping with the global environmental degradation. We can start sharing the lifestyle with our children from their very own early-ages in our own house. We must, then, teach them: how to conserve water; how to recycle rainwater; how to put plastic; glass, paper and organic waste into different garbage bins; how to plant vegetables and specific plants for medicine; how to collect falling leaves and mix them with organic waste for composting. Thus, designing a sustainable house not only deals with physical terms but also deal with a sustainable lifestyle. Our own house is a perfect place to start.

THE BAMBOO HOUSE AT ECO-PESANTREN DAARUT TAUHIID

Exploring Bamboo, Utilizing Second-Hand Materials, and Respecting the Environment To create a sustainable building is to ensure its sustainability capability in its design process, construction methods, and materials used furthermore, in its ability of altering the users lifestyle. Designing a house, in other hand, might means continuing the tradition, preserving the local wisdom. The Bamboo House is located on the Eco-Pesantren Daarut Tauhids housing complex, approximately 1,000 m above sea level, in the North-Western Bandung. Eco Pesantren is an Islamic Institution which is trying to apply sustainable development principles in its physical development. It was designed in 7.4 Ha area which comprises a mosque, farming lands, public school, students dormitories, and housing; and vision to be the sustainable community model, developed based on Islamic-philanthropic principles. To enhance its neighboring communities welfare, it shares numbers of community-empowerment activities.

Figure 3 Site Plan of Eco-Pesantren Daarut Tauhiid Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 4 The Bamboo House Source: Faisal 2009

Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

The Bamboo House was designed on the 622 m2 piece of land, with the main entrance facing south. The 9 (nine) existing 37 years old clove trees are remain preserved in site and also become part of the houses design. To respect the existing clove trees, the building mass is divided into 2 (two) three-storey-masses, connected by a bridge and a porch. The first mass consists of 2 bedrooms including the master bedroom, kitchen & dining area, pantry, living room, and a studio, whilst the other part of the house comprises 2 childrens bedrooms.

Figure 5 The Nine Existing 37 Years Old Clove Trees Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 6 Rural Area View in the Neighboring Area Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 7 Ground Floor Plan (left) & 2nd Floor Plan (Right) Source: Faisal 2009

This three storey house is facing south and adapting the sustainable concepts in its design not only in its air, water and waste handling, but also the material selection. The house uses bamboo as the indigenous sustainable material for its main material selection. The material is used extensively and innovatively, not only as a matter of exterior/interior decorations but also as the structural elements, including plastered bamboo walls and composite bamboo for columns, retaining wall and floorings. Although the bamboo traditional construction has been used for centuries in West-Java, it has gradually been replaced by modern construction; therefore, in the beginning of the construction, the architect himself refreshed the labors to do the construction work, especially when bamboo is combined with new/modern materials.

Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

Figure 8 Composite Concrete Bamboo for Retaining Wall Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 9 Composite Concrete Bamboo for Floor Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 10 Bamboo Parquette for Flooring Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 11 Plastered Bamboo Wall Source: Faisal 2009

In this house, traditional bamboo weaving is used for plastered wall and for divider panels. Modern bamboo weaving is also entailed as kitchen back-splash, ceilings, and fence as well as treated as wallpaper. It is interesting to note that all traditional bamboo weaving can easily be done by common labor, meaning the craftsmanship the skills and the knowledge still exist in the society. Although modern bamboo weaving with new specific design can only be constructed by people who lived in remote areas in Southern Bandung, it doesnt mean that common labor cannot do the modern waving. The common labors usually object to put more effort on the new design because they need to allocate more craftingtimes.

Figure 12 Modern Bamboo for Kitchen Back-splash Source: Faisal 2009

Figure 13 Modern Bamboo Weaving for Wallpaper Source: Faisal 2009

Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

Figure 14 Various Use of Bamboo as Decorative Elements Source: Faisal 2009

Besides using bamboo as the main material, this house also utilizing second-hand materials for many purposes, those are: plywood, steel roofing, doors, beams, windows, and window-frames. Most of these materials are collected from old Dutch building remnants around Bandung City. In fact, surprisingly most of the time, the quality of second-hand materials are better than the new one. The reduction in use of new materials creates a corresponding reduction in embodied energy (energy used in the production of materials).8 Accordingly, utilization of second-hand materials becomes one of the green-building-design principles.

Figure 15 Second-Hand Materials Used in the Bamboo House (rasamala wood, window frames, particle board, roof shingles, etched glass, steel) Source: Faisal 2009

As an eco-responsive house, the Bamboo House was made to have minimum contact with the existing nature. This is shown by the elevated floor decking to minimize buildings coverage and contact with existing soil. Located in Bandung, Indonesia has also made the house gifted by abundance sunlight, heavy rain water, and high level of humidity, as any other places in the tropical areas. Thus, the house has wide wall-openings to optimize the natural-day-lighting from the sunlight during the daytimes. As another treatment to optimize the abundance of tropical sunlight and heavy rain water, this house is planned to be equipped with solar panels and rainwater harvesting unit. Black water from the septic tank and
Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

grey water from the kitchen and bathroom is designed to be filtered biologically in the constructed wetland before its overflow go into the city drainage.

Figure 16 The Extensive Use of Bamboo: Blinds, Stairs, Ceilings, Wall, Door Source: Faisal 2009

CONCLUSION
This house is trying to show us, how bamboo the ignored indigenous material can be utilized up to its extreme possibilities, not only for decorative uses but also for structural purposes. In other hand, instead of casting or burning the secondhand materials into the wasteland, this house use them in a very eloquent way, thus they significantly enrich the final outlook of this house. The ignorance of preserving craftsmanship in our modern life must become our collective concern because craftsmanship is the expression of communities creativity. It is an accumulative proved skills and knowledge. We strongly need to preserve it; otherwise, we will lose one of the most precious cultural heritages in our lives. We will be alienated from our own history before finally losing our identities. In this regard, exploring the art of bamboo in this house is a noble effort. This house simply shows us how culture meets nature, how man-made religiously respect God-made, how the design of this house humbly interweaving within the 9 (nine) existing 37 years old clove trees. As a matter of fact, this is the very essence of the co-existence itself. Moreover, the Bamboo House is an articulated example of building a sustainable thoroughly, not only sustainable by design it is also socially sustainable. The house shows that sustainability is a word beyond physical impact. It is related both with nature and culture. By preserving the bamboo-tradition among its native Sundanese society, the house is also inexplicitly preserving the collective creativity of the cultural community.
Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH

Arte-Polis 3 International Conference on Creative Collaboration and the Making of Place

10

ENDNOTES
[1] (Widjaja, Keragaman Bambu dan Potensinya untuk Kehidupan Modern, 2009, pp. 1-2) [2] (Widjaja, State of The Art of Indonesia Bamboo, 2003, p. 3) [3] (Purwito, 2009) [4] (Steele, 1997) [5] (Tanuwidjaja, 2010) [6] (Arif, Permanasari, & Badil, 2009) [7] (Snyder & Catanese, 1979) [8] (Wikipedia, 2010)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARIF, Ahmad, PERMANASARI, Indira, & BADIL, Rudi (2009). Hidup Hirau Hijau. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia. LOPEZ, Oscar H. (2003). Bamboo, the Gift of the Gods. Bogota: D'Vinni Ltda. MORISCO. (2009). Karakteristik dan Implementasi Bambu dalam Struktur Bangunan Modern. 2. PURWITO. (2009). Pengolahan & Produk Turunan Bambu Sebagai Material Alternatif. 1. SNYDER, James C., & Catanese, A. J. (1979). Introduction to Architecture. NY: McGraw-Hill. STEELE, James (1997). Sustainable Architecture. NY: McGraw-Hill. TANUWIDJAJA, Gunawan (2010, April 19). Green Impact Indonesia. Retrieved April 20, 2010, from Wordpress: http://greenimpactindo.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/%E2%80%9Csustainabl e-architecture%E2%80%9D-berapa-hijaukah-rumahku/ VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM. (2004). Grow Your Own House. Simon Velez and Bamboo Architecture . WIDJAJA, Elizabeth A. (2009). Keragaman Bambu dan Potensinya untuk Kehidupan Modern. Bamboo Festival: Bamboo for Modern Life (pp. 1-2). Bandung: Asri. WIDJAJA, Elizabeth A. (2003). State of The Art of Indonesia Bamboo. Retrieved November 2006, from CGIAR: http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/Publications/HTMLPublications/572/ch25.htm Wikipedia. (2010, April 15). Retrieved April 21, 2010, from Sustainable Architecture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_architecture

Ph.D. Budi FAISAL; S.T, Putri KINASIH