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BUMI AWI KABULA KABALE: A PROPOSAL TO ALTER THE FATE OF MANKIND

THROUGH ADAPTIVE BAMBOO STRUCTURE

Conference Paper · July 2017

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 THE 15TH INTERNATONAL CONFERENCE QUALITY IN RESARCH (QIR) 2017

BUMI AWI KABULA KABALE:

A PROPOSAL TO ALTER THE FATE OF MANKIND
THROUGH ADAPTIVE BAMBOO STRUCTURE

Anastasia Maurinaa1, Budianastas Prastyatamaa, Carissaa,

Altho Sagaraa, Sisi Nova Rizkiania, Buen Siana , Jung Eun Shinb
a
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan,
Ciumbuleuit 94, Bandung 40141, Indonesia
b
JUBIT International, Jalan Hegarbudi, No. 2, Bandung 40141, Indonesia

ABSTRACT
The urban expansion effects on the physical-spatial density of “new urban” areas, called
urbanizing rural, which in its constructions mostly used the “urban” conventional materials.
These materials usually have to be delivered from far distance, which can be immensely
costly - economical, time, social cost, and also environmental cost. The building itself, as a
dwelling physical space, is always limited to a certain size through a certain time-space
context and have no tendency for adaptation. In fact, people will ceaselessly expand their
lives through time, which bring about the complaint about the rigidity of their building,
which become inadaptable to their evolving needs through time. At a certain time or the
end of the intended time, that built object should constructively have altered, received
subtraction, given addition, or demolished to allow the new object extended or new needs.
The alteration will consume numerous building materials, which leads to even more cost.
The exploitation of the massive building material, particularly the supporting structure of
buildings (which stash approximately 60% of the environmental load of building materials)
will be excessively impacted on the fate or sustainability of a built environment itself. The
statement above allows us to set forth a question of [im] possibility: can man reverse, alter,
and modify the path towards the demise of mankind through the very act of consumption
itself? Can dwelling as the act to exist and as the constructed object provides the material
means for the alteration? Creating an adaptive structure with a local resources, is an
important point to alter the fate of mankind. This paper reports the experiment with the
constructed object that allows dwelling to provide options for alteration of dwelling itself,
through an adaptive bamboo structure, named ‘Bumi Awi Kabula Kabale’. This structure
has been proven to enable the dwelling’s adaptation: available, extendible, flexible, refit-
able, movable and recyclable and enable to reduce material’s consumption at the time of
building’s alteration. Ultimately, it could alter the fate of mankind and create human’s
dwelling, that is more harmonious balance between man and nature.

Keywords: dwelling; adaptive structure; adaptability; bamboo

1
Corresponding author:
Email address: maurin@unpar.ac.id / anastasia.maurina@gmail.com

714 Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284
 1. INTRODUCTION
The urban expansion effects on the altering characteristics of rural areas into “new urban”
areas, called urbanizing rural. The tangible characteristic’s change in this area is an
enhancement of physical-spatial density, which in its constructions mostly used the “urban”
conventional materials. These materials usually have to be delivered from far distance,
which can be immensely costly. Besides incurring economical, time and social cost, there
are intangible environmental cost of the procurement process of building materials. The
building itself, as a dwelling physical space, is always limited to a certain size through a
certain time-space context. Gibb, et al., (2007) stated that the buildings as bespoke
creations are designed in accordance with the particular use at a certain time, with little
thought for the future or sustainability. Subsequently, that the buildings have no tendency
for adaptation, notably in aspect in on coming function.
In fact, people are ceaselessly changing. In today’s contemporary urban culture, where
human atomization through consumption of things and services, replaced the previous
cultural tradition of the common good, there is more to ‘dwelling’ as an object than just a
building in which the act of dwelling takes place. Arguably, it dictates that the only
possible way of human existence is through the expansion of the level of one’s
consumption of things as the manifestation of progress. People will ceaselessly expand
their lives through time, which bring about the complaint about the rigidity of their
building, which become inadaptable to their evolving needs through time (Nakib, 2010).
The people’s expansion will ultimately insist the substantial adjustment to the built object,
physically and spatially. At a certain time or the end of the intended time, that built object
should constructively have altered, received subtraction, given addition, or demolished to
allow the new object extended or new needs.
The alteration will consume many building materials, which leads to even more cost -
economical, time, social and also environmental cost. As is well-known, “The building
industry, directly or indirectly causing a considerable part of the annual environmental
damage, can take up the responsibility to contribute to sustainable development by finding
more environmentally benign ways of construction and building” (Lugt, et al., 2006). The
exploitation of the massive building material, particularly the supporting structure of
buildings (which stash approximately 60% of the environmental load of building materials)
(Dobbelsteen, et al. (2002), will be excessively impacted on the fate or sustainability of a
built environment itself.
The statement above allows us to set forth a question of [im] possibility: can man reverse,
alter, and modify the path towards the demise of mankind through the very act of
consumption itself? Can dwelling as the act to exist and as the constructed object provides
the material means for the alteration? Responding to this questions, Mehaffy and Salingaros
(2015) stated that “We need to create durable structures that are fitted into our lives, and
that can be customized, repaired and adapted to our needs. They need to be thought about
throughout their life cycle, as they interact with local conditions and local resource cycles”,
which confirmed Nakib’s statement: adaptability allows reducing resources and energy
consumption and ensures a minimum environment perturbation (2009), thus adaptability
plays a major role to improve the sustainable attributes of the building in order to keep
harmony with the natural environment and lie within the new imperatives of sustainable

Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284 715
 development (2010). Creating an adaptive structure with a local resources, is an important
point to alter the fate of mankind. Through this structure, the built object’s alteration can be
done without consuming numerous materials. Therefore, minimizing the material’s
consumption will decrease the cost, especially environmental cost, thus the evansive of
demise man’s fate and the creation of human’s dwelling, that is more harmonious balance
between man and nature, are possible to do.
This study explored the possibilities of spatial and geometric adaptability of the building
structure with local materials. Bamboo is selected for the reason that bamboo’s availability
refers to local aspects that is beneficial, especially in West Java (Sunda). In addition,
bamboo is a prime example of sustainability, with respect to both the plant itself and its use
as a building material.” (Liwei, 2012). This paper reports the experiment with the
constructed object that allows dwelling to provide options for alteration of dwelling itself,
through an adaptive bamboo structure, named ‘Bumi Awi Kabula Kabale’. ‘Bumi Awi’ is
Sudanese’s word, which means a house or shelter (‘bumi’) made from bamboo (‘awi’).
Whereas the ‘kabula kabale’ is derived from Sundanese’s Proverbs “Kudu Bisa Kabula
Kabale”, which represent that people ought to adapt or adjust themselves wherever they
are. Thus, ‘Bumi Awi Kabula Kabale’ (hereafter referred to as BAKK) transforms that
cultural value into a technical value through a bamboo structure that can be adapted and
adjusted with limited land, various functions, and also various people’s needs and wants.

Figure 1 Bumi Awi Kabula Kabale

2. METHODOLOGY
The research through design was applied in three phases to explore the possibility of
adaptive bamboo structure. Firstly, framing the criteria and the concept of adaptive
structure were obtained through literature studies. Secondly, creating the principle
prototype, as a hypothesis, was carried out through the design’s process of adaptive
bamboo structure using a scaled model and computational modelling. The aims of this
phase are to test the design’s performance of adaptability and also to ensure the strength of
the structure in every possible structural configuration. Thirdly, proofing the principle
prototype, through constructing full scale modelling, which demonstrated its feasibility and
potential for real-world application.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

At the time when encountering the issue about the fate of mankind, sustainability is
becoming more influential in building design and construction. Beadle et al (2008) denoted
that there are few examples where its key principles have been successfully combined with

716 Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284
 adaptability. Once the building has the ability to adapt, it will be more sustainable, wherein
the building’s life can be longer and material consumption will decrease.
According to Kronenburg (2001), adaptability is the built-in ability to adapt and adjust to
change by meeting different uses, allowing various spatial and functional configurations,
and updating technologies without requiring significant disruption of the building, the
ongoing activities and the environment. The building structure, which is the most fixed
element compared with other building elements, limited the building’s adaptability.

3.1. Bamboo as Sustainable Building Structure Material

As stated above, bamboo is selected because of its availability and its sustainability.
Bamboos have a wide natural distribution, occurring from approximately 46° N latitudes to
approximately 47° S latitude and from sea level to as much as 4,300 meters (ca. 14,000
feet) in elevation in equatorial highlands (Clark, 2006). Bamboos are abundant in
Indonesia, especially in West Java, thus making it accessible from any given place in
Indonesia. Such accessibility reduces the time and cost required for transporting the
materials. In addition, bamboo has exemplary “green” credentials. It is adaptable to most
climatic conditions and soil types, acts as an effective carbon sink and helps counter the
greenhouse effect. It is being used increasingly in land stabilization to check erosion and
conserve soil. It can be grown quickly and easily, even on degraded land, and harvested
sustainably in three- to five-year rotation. (Jayanetti, et al., 2003). Lugt, et al. (2006) has
done the environmental assessment by environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) method and
concluded the relatively small environmental load of bamboo with respect to other
materials more commonly used, i.e., steel, timber, and concrete.

3.2. The Criteria of Adaptive Structure

According to Wagg, adaptive structures have the ability to adapt, evolve or change their
properties or behavior in response to the environment around them (Wagg, et al., 2007).
Beadle, et al., (2008) has defined six criteria of adaptive building, such as availability,
extendibility, flexibility, refit-ability, movability, and recyclability.

Figure 2 Adaptable Building (Beadle, et al., 2008)

3.3. The Concept of Adaptive Structure: BAKK

However, on this research, the adaptive structure - named BAKK was designed to meet the
criteria of adaptability that has stated above.

Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284 717
 3.3.1 Availability
The means of intended availability has considered about the speed of design and
construction. Therefore, this research adopted the deployable structure, which can be
transformed from a closed compact configuration to a predetermined expanded form
(Gantes, 2001). Deploy-ability of a structure is potentially stored in a compact form,
transported, and easily erected and also dismantled. Creating a sole deployable structural
module is highly beneficial, this module will be easily duplicated during the production and
erection, thus speeding up the construction process. The preferred structural system is an
adjustable portal truss, reimaging the bending moment diagram as its optimum structural
module form (Figure 3). This structural form can withstand the bending moment of a
simple cantilever beam and column with fixed joint and will transfer the axial loads despite
all the members. In order that this module structure can be deployed, there has to be one
adjustable bar, which is noteworthy.

Figure 3 Sole Module: An Adjustable Portal Truss

1 2 3 4 5 6
Foldable Structural Module

closed compact configuration predetermined expanded form

Figure 4 Deployable Structural Module

718 Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284
 3.3.2 Extendibility and Flexibility
An adaptable building should provide a space plan able to be arranged in several scenarios
to meet different needs, life styles and uses. Functional and spatial adaptability can be
achieved by include multifunctional spaces, allowing for a large variety of functions, as
well as trans-functional spaces leading to the creation of new undetermined and
unpredictable activities according to the users’ personal experiences and their consumption
of space (Nakib, 2010). BAKK have spatial and functional adaptability, though adjustable
modular design approach. Simply having a sole structural module, BAKK proof to be
configured with various building’s spans and form so BAKK can re-adjust to the land’s
size, building function and also user’s needs-and-wants. The BAKK structural module has
only one adjustable bar to adjust building span, which varies between 3m and 7,3m. Some
such variation may also be attached to mezzanine floor (Figure 5). In addition, this module
can be duplicated horizontally, thus creating the various building’s form (Figure 6).

Figure 5 Various Building’s Span

Figure 6 Various Building’s Form

Computational structural modeling by SAP program has been conducted to ensure the
strength of the structure in any possible structural configuration. The proposed species of
bamboo is ‘Gigantochloa Apus’ whose diameter around 80mm and wall thickness around
10mm, while the material properties take advantage of Kaminski et al., (2016) research,
that are modulus of elasticity 10.000 MPa with moisture content 19%; dry density 500-800

Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284 719
 kg/m3; flexure 30 N/mm2; shear 2 N/mm2; tension parallel to fibre 40 N/mm2; and
compression parallel to fibre 20 N/mm2. Variants of building’s span have a safety factor 2.5
(compression limit) and 6 (tensile limit). It can be concluded that the proved is extremely
safe. In this structure, the element’s bending will determine the limit of the structure.

Table 1 Structural Analysis

Axial force due to an
Model Deformation due to a combination of serviceability
ultimate combination

Building span = 4 m max = 10.5 mm (-) max = 22.1 kN

(A) (+) max = 14.6 kN

Building span = 5 m max = 11.2 mm (-) max = 24.3 kN

(B) (+) max = 19 kN

Building span = 6 m max = 13.8 mm (-) max = 31.9 kN

(C) (+) max = 26.6 kN

Table 2 Stress and Deflection

Model A Model B Model C Stress Limit
Building Span (m) 4 5 6
Compression Force Maximum (kN) 22.1 24.3 31.9
Tension Force Maximum (kN) 14.6 19 26.6
Compression Stress Max (MPa) 5.03 5.53 7.25 40
Tension Stress Max (MPa) 3.32 4.32 6.05 20
Deflection Max (mm) 10.5 11.2 13.8 L/300 = 14

3.3.3 Refit-ability
Refit-ability means that the structural components can be possibly and easily exchange or
replaces. BAKK fulfilled this ability through interlocking multi-layer bamboo system and
also bolts–and–nuts joinery system. The use of interlocking multi-layers’ bamboo system
(Figure 7) makes the excessive of the structure, but it has another advantage in the
possibility of exchanging or replacing the bamboo without destroying the entire building.
The bolts–and–nuts joinery are the most commonly connection, used in modern bamboo

720 Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284
 construction even in other construction. Thus the procurement of this material will be
easier, both at the beginning of construction and at the time of replacement. In addition,
using such connection will be easily disassembled and re-installed, allowing the bamboo’s
replacement without defecting the connection itself. With this consideration, the connection
between bamboo and foundation uses a steel plate as a connector.

Figure 7 interlocking multi-layers bamboo system

Figure 8 steel plate: the connector between bamboo and foundation

3.3.5 Movability and Recyclability

The fold-ability of BAKK allows for this structural element to be moved and re-used in
other location. The dimensions and weight of each module is a very important
consideration in the design. The length of each module structure in the closed compact
configuration is 4.2 meters, which can be transported using an ankle truck. While the
weight of this module is about 30 kilograms, which can be transported by two people.

4,20 m

Figure 9 Moveability

Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284 721
 4. CONCLUSION
The main principle of a proposed adaptive bamboo structure, BAKK, has been introduced
through a sole structural module of the adjustable truss frame portal. Using bamboo as
local-and-sustainable material of the adaptive structure’ design of Bumi Awi Kabula
Kabale, are highly potential to attain adaptable building. BAKK has been proven to enable
the dwelling’s adaptation: available, extendible, flexible, refit-able, movable and
recyclable. This structure’s ability enables to reduce material’s consumption at the time of
building’s alteration. Ultimately it could alter the fate of mankind and create human’s
dwelling, that is more harmonious balance between man and nature. This research can be a
nifty commencement for further research, such as post occupancy evaluation of this
structure, impact using this structure to the dwelling itself, and also the technical aspect of
this structure.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was awarded grant by JUBIT International and also supported by Research
and Community Service Institute of Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, Bandung, Indonesia.
We thank our colleagues from Sustainable Building Material and Technology Research
Center (SuBMiT), who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research.

6. REFERENCES
Clark , L., (2006). Bamboo Biodiversity. [Online]
Available at: www.eeob.iastate.edu/research/bamboo/index.html
[Accessed 31 March 2017].
Dobbelsteen, A. v. d., Linden, A. v. d. & Klaase, D., (2002). Sustainability Needs More
Than Just Smart Technology. Oxford, UK, Elsevier Science, pp. 1501-1508.
Gantes, C., (2001). Deployable Structures: Analysis and Design. Boston: WIT Press.
Gibb, A. G., et al., (2007). An Integrated Project Proposals to the IMCRC (Innovatice
Manufacturing and Construction Research Center): Adaptable Futures, Developing
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Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University.
Jayanetti, L., Follett, P. & Wycombe, H., (2003). Bamboo in Construction: Status and
Potential. UNEP Industry and Environment, April - September, pp. 64-65.
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Beadle, Katty., et al., (2008). Adaptable Futures: Sustainable Aspects of Adaptable
Buildings. Cardiff,UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, pp.
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Kronenburg, R., (2001). Flexible: Architecture that Responds to Change. Great Britain:
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Liwei, L., (2012). Bamboo as a Low Impact Construction Material: A Research on Bamboo
Architecture in Yunnan, China, s.l.: s.n.
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722 Proceeding of the 15th International Conference on QIR (Quality in Research) ISSN 1411-1284
 Mehaffy, M. F. & Salingaros, N. A., (2015). Design for a Living Planet: Settlement,
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