Cave Urban R&D by Cave Urban

Cave Urban Cave Urban was formed in 2010 to investigate vernacular lightweight structures and their relevance to contemporary design. What began as a means for research has developed into a practice that explores the intersection between art and architecture through the use of bamboo.

Research Research has always been an integral component of Cave Urbanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice. It is a process that has evolved through engagement with universities, NGOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, designers and the skilled artisans.

R Contents I

Education

Research

Cave Urban | D | Art

The Hothouse Client: Dark Mofo Year: 2016 Dimensions: 50m x 10m x 7m Location: Hobart, Australia Lead Designers: Juan Pablo Pinto, Jed Long, Nici Long, UTAS M.Arch Students Project Team: Lachlan Brown, Mercurio Alvarado, Seb Guy, Alice Nivison, Ned Long, Maddi Brandt

I. EDUCATION

Cave Urban | D | Education

Run as an intensive design studio for Masters of Architecture students at the University of Tasmania, the 50m long bamboo pavilion hosted advertising agency Clemenger’s Hot House forum on education and then Dark MOFO’s Winterfeast sponsored by Hobart’s Museum of Old & New Art (MONA). The Pavilion was built by the Architecture and Art students of the University of Tasmania together with Cave Urban using one-and-a-half containers of Queensland-harvested bamboo poles, polyester rope and greenhouse polyethylene film. It reached a maximum height of 7m and covered an area of 10m x 50m. In the centre, two potbelly fireplaces made with recycled steel by Chilean sculptor Carolina Pinto kept the visitors warm in the middle of the Tasmanian winter. The waterproof structure coped with the harsh climate which brought winds of up to 70km/h. The project, used fullscale prototyping and small-scale models to explore the possibilities of bamboo as a building material. This process informed the schematic design which was used for engineering and council approval.

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Hammock Hut Client: Woodford Folk Festival Year: 2017 Dimensions: 10mx8mx50m Location: Woodford, Australia Project Leader: Jed Long, Nici Long Project Team: Seb Guy, Max Volfnuek, Quinlan Revell

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The structure was designed as a 1:1 prototype for a potential community building for the Vietnamese village of Ro Koi. Building upon initial community consultation in the June 2017 UTAS Vietnam bamboo studio, the design was further resolved in January 2018 at the National University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi.

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The structure is composed of a series of overlapping triangles that are covered with woven bamboo splits. The roofs ridge mirros the fall of the hillside, allowing the building to open up to the southern view over the Glasshouse Mountains.

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The Hammock Hut was built for the 2017/18 Woodford Folk Festival. Designed to be a space of respite, the structure was created in three weeks with the assistance of fifteen volunteers.

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Bagre Year: 2017 Location: Puebla, Mexico Partner: DICMA Trade Project Leader: Jed Long

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DiCMA Trade invited Cave Urban to run a workshop in Puebla, Mexico. The workshop focussed on combining traditional latin american bamboo construction techniques with the woven bamboo technique of Wang Wen Chih. Over a period of four days, two bamboo structures were created by the workshop participants. One structure made use of traditional bahareque techniques, taught by Peter Van Lengen. The application of earth over a bamboo frame provides a means of protecting the bamboo from sun and rain.

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Cow Shelter Year: 2018 Location: Long Luong, Vietnam Partner: University of Tasmania Project Leader: Jed Long, Dr Helen Norrie

Image: Helen Norrie

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Cave Urban has been working in collaboration with Dr Helen Norrie of the University of Tasmania to explore the notion of Agritecture through the Vietnam Bamboo Project. The project partners with existing agricultural programs to develop prototypes for low-tech, hybrid construction systems that can be self-built by communities and draw on vernacular traditions and local material resources . Working directly with communities provides a context through which the most appropriate architectural solution may be determined. This process considers materiality as part of an economic, ecological and social supply chain, providing a holistic understanding of the impacts of material choice and construction techniques.

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SECTION Scale: 1:50

3.0 m

Three of the five trusses use a central post for fixing gates and internal fencing to. Central post is not load-bearing

Configuration of purlins and rafters dependent on roofing used. All rafters fixed to main truss structure

Feed troughs have rounded section as well as chamfered corners in plan to prevent feed becoming stuck in corners.

Bamboo trusses sit in PVC footings cast into concrete slab

Drain holes to assist in easy cleaning. Water troughs use a removable plug when not being cleaned

Floor uses 5% slope to achieve good drainage and keep cattle clean and free of disease

Drain on low end of enclosure captures sewerage runoff for reuse on farm

Rubble or earth infill

Footings to engineer's detail or as needed depending on site and available material

ELEVATION - SHORT SIDE Scale: 1:50

2.1 m

4.1 m

End wall uses a replaceable wall to give shelter to cattle. End wall is non-structural and can be replaced without affecting the main structure

Similar to the roof, the end wall uses materials easily and cheaply available such as thatch, bamboo weave or sheetmetal

Cement capping for tile roof or similar flashings

Slab at end had a raised wall to keep end wall dry and away from water or runoff from sewer drain

gh allow for hygiene and

Cave Urban | D | Education

Image: Nina Annand

Cave Urban | D | Education

Housing Designer: RAW Impact

Year: 2017 Location: Phnom Penh, Australia Bamboo Consultant: Jed Long

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Raising Awareness Worldwide (RAW) Impact is a NGO based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Founded by Australians Troy and Nicole Roberts, RAW Impact works directly with highly vulnerable Cambodian communities focussing on capacity building. The organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core principles to sustain, educate and protect, address diverse issues, establishing pathways for families to avoid debt slavery and child sex trafficking by providing education and a sustainable lively hood, as well as providing better housing and more secure land tenure. RAW Impact has identified bamboo as a resource capable of addressing some of the issues confronting Cambodia, providing multiple beneficial outcomes that includes housing, environmental remediation and employment. Working in collaboration with the University of New South Wales, Casey Brown Architects and Cave Urban, the Every Piece Matters program was established to design and construct housing prototypes. The process of building seven housing modules provided a means of educating local workers in bamboo construction, whilst also serving as a means of learning through making for all participants in the project. A continual process of critical reflection has allowed for the gradual evolution of designs towards an outcome that is suitable for bamboo construction and local ways of living. The construction process has been refined to allow for capacity building of the community. Training young Khmai workers who may not have any building experience requires a system of construction that is repeatable and ensures a level of quality control. A series of jigs have been fabricated which allows for all work to take place on ground and repeated to achieve a higher level of efficiency. Previously work had taken place in-situ and had posed a number of challenges that prefabrication on ground solves. Low-tech innovation such as this is highly suitable to the circumstance and presents a simplified methodology that is an appropriate response and an opportunity for changing perceptions about bamboo as a building material.

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Archite Development

Art

RAW Impact

Agroforestry

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Rese

Carried by human to road side.

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ecture

Urban

Agritecture

UTAS

Education

Shelter

earch

HBC

Cave Urban | R | Research

II. RESEARCH

When Cave Urban first began learning about bamboo, it was a challenge to gain access to information. This necessitated a number of research trips internationally, visiting buildings and participating in workshops, gaining knowledge through direct hands on experience. This information was documented through a research folio which is shared as open source information in the hope it may aid or inspire those who are also interested in bamboo as a building material. Through collaborations with bamboo masters, this knowledge continues to grow and be shared to participants in Cave Urban projects, workshops or university courses. Key to this process is the notion of collaboration and the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Cave Urbanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work with bamboo is a response to the context of working in Australia. For Cave Urban, art is as a medium of experimentation. The design of works responds in part to the process of making, which takes into account the largely unskilled labour that will help to assist construction. As such there is often a limited number of construction techniques utilised, which can be taught and repeated en masse to great effect. By reducing a complex task down to a set of simple repeatable tasks, large scale works can be created in short time frames through the compilation of small singular elements into a larger more complex whole. The informal process of research and development was influenced by collaboration with artists such as Wang Wen Chih and has developed Cave Urbanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding of the potential of bamboo as a building material. Further partnerships with Humanitarian Benchmark Consulting and the Environmental Bamboo Foundation has led to new pathways being explored onsite at Woodfordia, Australia. The Woodford Folk Federation has facilitated the planting of a bamboo forest, new research into bamboo treatment and the development of training models and typologies for post disaster reconstruction.

Cave Urban | R | Research

The Woodford Folk Festival provides an opportunity for research and experimentation that is globally unique. The strong support of festival leadership has created a platform for collaboration with various international experts and a space for direct dissemination to the Australian public through large scale installations, workshops and talks. The collaboration between Taiwanese artist Wang Wen Chih and Cave Urban in 2013 proved to be a catalyst for encouraging Woodfords engagement with fostering a culture of bamboo cultivation and design. Partnering with the Woodford Folk Festival and Cave Urban, Arief Rabik has been working to help grow the bamboo community in Australia. Utilising the Woodford site as a testing ground for further research that can directly translate back to Indonesia, Arief has been prototyping a new treatment system for bamboo. The focus of the project is to create a closed loop system for growing, treating and constructing with bamboo. The project begun with the propagation of a two hectare bamboo forest, which is watered from the disinfected waste water of the entire site. Situated on a hillside, the project will study the change in soil conditions and the effect of utilising nutrient rich black water on the bamboo. Planting begun in 2015 and was finished in 2017. Over the next 5 years the forest will establish itself and provide a sustainable annual yield of bamboo to be utilised across the Woodfordia site. To ensure the longevity of the bamboo that is harvested it will in turn have to be treated.

Cave Urban | R | Research

The development of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bamboo Smokerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is the result of cross cultural collaboration between Australia and Indonesia. The aim of the project is to develop a system for permanent treatment of bamboo in a short time period, utilising machinery that is low tech, low cost and easily sourced. Currently the majority of bamboo is treated by soaking it in a Borax solution. This is a cheap and reliable process, however Borax is water soluble and as such will leach out of the material over time leaving it vulnerable to borer infestation. By smoking the bamboo, the project aims to transform the chemical composition of the culm, removing the sugars and starch through a process of carbonisation that leaves the culm permanently protected. It is an evolution of traditional bamboo treatment methods seen throughout south-east Asia and more sophisticated methods utilised in Japan. By developing the project at Woodfordia there are direct educational and practical outcome for the Australian

bamboo community, whilst also providing a means for direct translation back to Indonesian communities. The process looks to extract value from all stages of production, in order to explore the idea of a restoration economy. It is a closed loop system and its development provides benefit to both Australian and Indonesian communities, whilst also laying the foundation for future collaboration. Humanitarian Benchmark Consulting has also begun to engage with Woodford. Running trainings on post-disaster reconstruction, the HBC has been disseminating the findings of the Humanitarian Bamboo Guidelines to a wider audience and testing ideas for direct application back to a real world application. In April 2017, HBC and Cave Urban came together to run a 5 day training workshop that taught participants the foundation of best practice for bamboo cultivation and construction.

Cave Urban | R | Research

Development The following works encompass a broad range of projects developed over eight years of collaboration and making. The diversity of the works express the constant desire to experiment through making.

D Contents I

Art

Architecture

III

Collaborations

Cave Urban | D | Art

I. ART

Golden Hour Installed: Woodfordia, Queensland Exhibited: Sculpture By The Sea, Bondi Year: 2016 Dimensions: 3mx3mx3m Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Artist: Juan Pablo Pinto Project Leaders: Nici Long, Jed Long Project Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Lachlan Brown, Seb Guy, Ned Long

Image: Mercurio Alvarado

Cave Urban | D | Art

Exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea 2016 in Sydney, The Golden Hour was built onsite using 700 poles of locally harvested aurea bamboo and with the help of volunteers. Balanced at the edge of the headland overlooking iconic Bondi Beach, the 4m diameter sphere lined up with the horizon to celebrate sunrise and sunset. The sculpture invited the viewers to step inside and perceive their environment through a filter of woven bamboo.

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Image: Mercurio Alvarado

Cave Urban | D | Art

S.O.S. Installed: Yabby Lakes Vineyard, Mornington Peninsula Exhibited: Sculpture By The Sea, Bondi Year: 2014 Dimensions: 12m x 3m Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Artists: Juan Pablo Pinto, Lachlan Brown Project Leaders: Jed Long, Nici Long Project Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Ned Long

Image: Gareth Carr

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The view from Bondi Image: Mercurio Alvarado

Looking up. Image: Mercurio Alvarado

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Mengenang Exhibited at: Sculpture By The Sea (Bondi + Cottesloe), Artisans in the Garden Year: 2012 Dimensions: 10mx8mx3m Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Artists: Lachlan Brown, Juan Pablo Pinto, Nici Long Project Team: Jed Long, Ned Long, Alice Nivison

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Mengenang (Memory in balinese), is a bamboo wind driven sound installation. The bamboo resonators are tuned to a D minor cord to create a commemorative sound forest. The original installation of Mengenang was created to reflect on the bombings that occurred in 2002 and 2005 in Bali. The 222 victims were represented by 222 bamboo poles on the headland. Mengenang was awarded winner of the “People’s Choice” and “Mayor’s Prize”awards, 16th annual exhibition “Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2012”. It was also awarded winner of the “People Choice’s Prize” at the 9th annual exhibition “Sculpture by the Sea Cottesloe 2013” Perth - Australia

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Harvest Client: Brisbane Festival Year: 2014 Dimensions: 10mx50mx16m Location: Brisbane, Australia Lead Designers: Juan Pablo Pinto, Nici Long, Mercurio Alvarado, Jed Long Project Team: Lachlan Brown, Alice Nivison, Seb Guy, Maddi Brandt

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Near Kin Kin Installed: Woodfordia, Queensland Exhibited: Art + About, Sydney Year: 2016a Dimensions: 24m x 6m Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Artist: Juan Pablo Pinto Project Leaders: Nici Long, Jed Long Project Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Lachlan Brown, Seb Guy, Ned Long, Alice Nivison

Cave Urban | D | Art

Towards the end of 2015, Cave Urban created a 24m tall sculpture for Sydney’s Art and About Festival., armature before erection entitled Near Kin Kin Only a small percentage will continue Up, highest point will be reached by no more than 5 skinny bamboo

n armature tre pipe or bar after installation

The tower draws its name, inspiration and organic materials from a hillside farm near Kin Kin, Queensland – where giant stands Height of steel armature of bamboo invoke awe in anyone after installation, from this point up who stands beneath them. the bamboo structure thins dramatically

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After the exhibition, the sculpture was relocated to the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland. Against the natural environment, Near Kin Kin is an impressive landmark, a meeting point6000 for visitors to raise their sights towards the blue sky. 10m

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Built primarily with bamboo and a light steel formwork, the structure was built off-site and erected overnight in the middle of Sydney’s CBD. Like a bamboo skyscraper, Near Kin Kin, invited the viewer to step into a handmade natural environment - an escape from the surrounding concrete city.

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The structure was temporary erected on the forecourt of Customs House Square and it has now been relocated to the Woodford Folk Festival precinct.

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SIDE ELEVATION SCALE : 1:100 @ A3 DATE : 07 Aug 2015 5 DWG NO. : DRAWN BY : Juan Pablo

73 Bulkara Road Bellevue Hill NSW 2023

+61(02)93635952

nicilong@bigpond.com

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Womb Artist Impression Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Artists: Juan Pablo Pinto, Lachlan Brown

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Regenesis Installed: Gasworks Art Park, Melbourne Exhibited: Art+Climate=Change Year: 2017 Dimensions: 3mx6mx3m Location: Melbourne, Australia Lead Artist: Juan Pablo Pinto Project Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Seb Guy

Cave Urban | D | Art

Commissioned for the 2017 ART+CLIMATE = CHANGE Festival in Melbourne, the sculpture was exhibited for a month in Acland St Plaza, St Kilda. The work - evoking a cocoon or chrysalis that has opened - was relocated to Melbourneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gasworks Art Park for extended exhibition. Visitors are invited to climb inside the sculpture and inhabit the space. Using 800 bamboo poles and with the help of volunteers, the 8m long structure was built on four light steel rings which allowed for a quick build and certified transport in a single piece with rated lift points.

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Bower Installed: Cranbrook School, Sydney Exhibited: Sculpture at Barangaroo Year: 2017 Dimensions: 3mx3mx9m Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Artist: Juan Pablo Pinto Project Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Seb Guy, Jed Long

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ANBG Treehouse Client: Australian National Botanic Garden Year: 2017 Dimensions: 8mx8mx20m Location: Canberra, Australia Lead Designers: Juan Pablo Pinto, Nici Long Project Team: Seb Guy, Jed Long, Mercurio Alvarado

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Initiated and primarily funded by the Friends of the Gardens, the Paperbark Treehouse was created to allow visitors of all ages to experience special aspects of a copse of Melaleuca trees. Fire was an important generator for the design of the Paperbark Treehouse, just as it is a source of regeneration in the Australian landscape. The myriad thin layers of bark visible on these trees not only protect the living tree trunks against the ravages of bushfires, but also harbour epicormic buds that sprout after the trunks have been scorched. The Treehouse’s tree trunks and timbers have been charred, providing a natural weather shield and giving extra protection against fire by resisting ignition. The deep black of the carbonised structure creates a backdrop to highlight the surrounding Tea Tree grove. Three levels in the Treehouse relate to the trees themselves as roots (understorey), trunk (main platform) and canopy (crow’s nest). The crow’s nest is a ship of the air to float through the trees.

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Most of the Treehouse’s building materials came from recycled sources. The natural tree trunks were salvaged within the Gardens themselves, and the turpentine joists and decking were milled from old wharf piers. The Australian rosewood handrail and ladder rungs are from century-old Central Queensland fence posts, acquired from the film set of Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia”. The cladding weatherboards were cut longitudinally from Victorian Silvertop ash logs as radially-sawn wedges, a highly-sustainable type of milling. Their shapes reference the paperbark trees’ natural edged layers. Chilean sculptor Carolina Pinto created the organic steelwork that grows on and around the trunks of the tree columns and will facilitate native vines to grow slowly through the structure and anchor it to the forest floor Cave Urban | D | Art

Cave Urban | D | Art

II. Architecture

Woodwark Bay Year: 2000 Location: Woodwark Bay, Australia Lead Designer: Nici Long

Iggyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bakery Year: 2015 Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Designer: Nici Long Project Team: Angel Herida

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Iggyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bakery is an alteration and addition to two adjoining terraces on Macpherson St. The project created a storefront and commercial bakery for Iggyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bread, whilst also providing a home to Iggy and his family above. The bakery sits behind the street front shops- allowing customers an intimate view of the baking process. Above the layout was split into two pavilions providing a space for his four daughters and a larger living area and terrace for Iggy, Ludmilla and the family. Retaining the existing vegetation onsite allowed for the buildings to be set within lush foliage, providing privacy from the surrounding buildings. The existing garden also provides access to natural ventilation, daylight and provides a natural environment for the bakery staff and family.

Cave Urban | D | Architecture

From the beginning there was a desire to re-use as much of the existing building and garden as possible and to create a building with a low carbon footprint. Together with sourcing local recycled materials and integrating passive design principles into the building, the addition of a basement (to store machinery) allows the bakery to implement systems to recover the waste heat from the ovens for hot water and underfloor hydronic heating. The building also incorporates solar panels and rainwater harvesting to be used on the garden and for flushing toilets. The original street frontage of the terrace building has been left intact. The front shop awning was stripped back and repaired with its original signage, demonstrating a desire to retain the feeling of the existing terrace building and its relation to the street. The upper storey is characterised by an open lightweight construction with wide eaves that draw upon natural light and ventilation. The material palette is highly textural and often makes use of recycled elements and natural materials to create warm, haptic spaces.

Ground Floor Plan | NTS

First Floor Plan | NTS

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General Store Year: 2016 Location: Woodford, Australia Lead Designer: Nici Long, Juan Pablo Pinto

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Shade Parade Client: Woodford Folk Festival Year: 2017 Dimensions: 10mx8mx50m Location: Woodford, Australia Lead Designer: Mercurio Alvarado

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Chai Wallah Client: Woodford Folk Festival Year: 2017 Dimensions: 6mx6mx4m Location: Woodford, Australia Lead Designer: Lachlan Brown

Cave Urban | D | Architecture

Banksia Tunnels Client: Ian Potter Wild Play Garden Year: 2017 Dimensions: 10mx8mx3m Location: Sydney, Australia Lead Designers: Mercurio Alvarado, Jed Long Project Team: Seb Guy

Cave Urban | D | Architecture

Within the Ian Potter Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wild Play Garden at the Centennial Park, Sydney, Aspect Studio invited Cave Urban to create an installation to frame a series of tunnels within a forest of native Banksia scrub. As the bamboo ages and breaks down, the Banksias will grow and follow the shape of the bamboo to create a living structure. The tunnels were built using bamboo, tree branches and wire. The green materials came from the gardens with the help of volunteers and the Parks and Gardens staff.

Cave Urban | D | Architecture

Amphitheatre Artist Impression Location: Woodford, Australia Lead Designer: Juan Pablo Pinto, Nici Long Project Team: Jed Long

Cave Urban | D | Architecture

Bamboo Castle Artist Impression Location: Brisbane, Australia Lead Designer: Juan Pablo Pinto, Nici Long Collaborating Artist: Wang Wen Chih

Cave Urban | D | Architecture

III. COLLABORATIONS

Woven Sky Artist: Wang Wen Chih

Client: Woodford Folk Festival Year: 2013 Dimensions: 10mx50mx16m Location: Woodford, Australia Cave Urban Team: Nici Long, Juan Pablo Pinto, Jed Long, Lachlan Brown, Alice Nivison, Ned Long.