Shelter, lightweight structures of bamboo

An to on Ver s te e g d e

Shelter Lightweight structures of bamboo

Antoon Versteegde has given lectures and workshops for many years; he organizes educational and solidarity projects with artists and amateurs, children, students and professionals. This work has taught him that we all benefit from the insights of others; children, for example, often suggest surprising approaches to structural solutions. Most of the photos illustrate students experimenting with geometric shapes and structures, top center is a group of stewardesses experiencing solidarity and fun building a model of the Eiffel Tower.

02 | Shelter

Shelters, made of sheets of fabric attached to a frame of bamboo poles.

And the whole world became bound in one language and one vision, dominion; planet earth was in peril. Then the people turned to art, they learned again to build their own shelter, with sheets of fabric attached to a frame of bamboo poles...

During the past 25 years I have made transient structural art installations of bamboo poles tied together with rubber bands, some stood for one day, others for several weeks, but never more than three months. This places temporary installations in the realm of special memories, and surprisingly fun happenings. Now I have invested time to express this knowledge through serious study into the use of lightweight bamboo structures to build temporary as-well-as permanent shelter. These techniques are beginning to be practiced around the world, they are becoming known as self-sheltering; the ultimate impact will be profound, socially and economically.

This booklet is not intended as a step-by-step guide, rather, as an inspiration to show what is possible; realizing every person and region is different. Self-sheltering also varies with available materials: willow branches, bamboo sticks, PVC pipe or cardboard tubes...? Instead of rubber, you can also think of ropes, straps, wire, tape, glue, etcetera. I hope this brochure will inspire you to make your own insights and solutions.

Antoon Versteegde

Preface Shelter | 03

Bamboo poles can quickly be attached to each other with rubber bands.

Intersections can also be bound with plastic tie-wraps, rope or tape.

Basic structure • Bamboo poles cross each other up or down to create a solid frame.

Bamboo is the poor man's timber and everybodies friend.

Shelter | 05

Binding techniques Bamboo poles can quickly be attached to each other with rubber bands. Intersections can also be bound with plastic ties and wraps, rope, rattan or tape.

There are many methods used for joining bamboo poles, historical binding techniques utilized various fibers, such as from the rattan palm, which are often softened and made pliable with water. Although traditional binding materials remain useful, modern materials bring new opportunities.

These nodes are wrapped in burlap or muslin strips dipped in cement after all the bamboo poles have been temporarily tied. Strips about 3-6 centimeters wide and 40-80 cm long are easy to apply if they are rolled onto a short piece of bamboo after the fabric is thoroughly soaked with cement slurry.

Rubber bands proved ideal for temporary art installations with public participation because the binding method is flexible, easily understood and interested individuals can become involved without needing protective clothing or gloves.

Cotton muslin soaked with a mixture of acrylic and standard construction cement has proven to be a very strong binding, similarly treated burlap also works well but is more bulky. Though tape is not as flexible as rubber bands, it is easily cut and replaced, if necessary.

Muslin soaked with waterproof carpenter's glue will also provide a strong binding. Below is an example of muslin soaked with acrylic and cement applied over a preliminary tape wrap.

These joint wraps look like cloth but are in fact perfectly reinforced concrete, far beyond human strength. One connection costs about the same as one nail and will last many years.

Shelter | 07

Consider beforehand what, when and why a bamboo pole should be used upright or upsidedown to give you the best advantage.

Roof rafters and ridge • This bamboo structure will easily support sturdy roof sheathing.

Forces of wind and storm are subtly damped by a flexible structure.

Shelter | 09

The frame of the house takes shape rather quickly. It can be covered with plastic sheeting for emergency shelter or become the frame of a fine art sculptured home which provides pride of place. A beautiful and secure home presented through personal expression via self-sheltering provides unfortunate populations with a healthy response to the trials of poverty or disaster.

Skelet • The shelter skeleton is like bamboo bones and joints bandaged in fabric and cement.

A roof protects from rain. Add artistic detail with sculptured

rain gutters to collect clean drinking water.

Shelter | 11

Self sheltering Spontaneous public participation in creation of art immerses one in the delightful realization that expression of life is beautiful, joyous and fun. Self-sheltering is direct action to satisfy the primal need for shelter, it opens the soul to freedom from need through joy of personal accomplishment. Those beset by poverty and disaster are occupied full-time with basic needs. Creative spirit is released to the benefit of all when folk art becomes self-sheltering so beautiful it also provides pride of place. New ideas will be born from chronic poverty and disaster, even the most fortunate will receive unforeseen gifts from newly invigorated souls.

Organized humanitarian relief is trapped by old methods of providing goods from approved suppliers, this can take the life out of living and create ghettos of tents and other factory shelter. The time for self-sheltering is now. Billions of people displaced by disaster, war and planned economic impoverishment overwhelm all organizational visions. Self-sheltering with a little help from friends is one of very few paths to the universal justice required for a sustainable human culture.

12 | Shelter

Shelter | 13

When you look up, you see that this bamboo roof truss will absorb a lot of wind and can carry much weight.

Roof structure • The bamboo poles together form a cohesive structure.

Tie-wraps are easily made and quickly placed, with very few tools.

Shelter | 15

Even a temporary roof provides one with a feeling of security and safety.

Inner tubes • Abrasive cement may be covered with pieces of inner tube.

Plastic sheeting or canvas is easily cut to fit all shapes and sizes.

Temporary covering gives time to calmly assess and plan.

Shelter | 17

Winter is near, it's pressing cold and a roof is needed. Let your imagination soar.

Think of knee pads, let rubber flaps catch the strength of the wind and protect the roof membrane.

Featherlight roof • Secure it in place as quickly as possible, so it will not no tear or blow away.

Each house is different, just as no two people are exactly the same.

Decorate your door and tell the world it is you who lives there.

Shelter | 19

The setting sun colors the roof of your new home as if it were a royal palace.

Heavy weights • The supporting grid of this roof is held in place by stone weights.

Wooden pallets are perfect for an elevated, dry floor.

Shelter | 21

Bamboo, the poor man's timber Bamboo is a wonder plant, its many uses include erosion control, watershed protection, soil remediation, and environmental greening. It is the fastest growing timber plant on earth with many applications as a wood substitute.

Increased awareness of bamboo's immense potential will create livelihood opportunities and contribute to the wellbeing and quality of life; cultivation and use of bamboo as a timber substitute will reduce the pressure on hardwood forests and shelter the homeless. Very successful bamboo housing has shown that we are all in a position to take advantage of this remarkable natural resource.

Traditionally used in many countries, colonial powers convinced subjugated peoples bamboo is poor man's timber.

Today, bamboo is again much prized. It is a multipurpose plant with secondary economic benefits that do not easily compute in methods utilized by modern economies.

Secondary economic benefits of self-sheltering are equally elusive numerically, even so, environmental and social benefits clearly contribute to a sustainable human culture.

Key Features of Bamboo • Bamboo grows more rapidly than trees, harvest begins about four years after planting, full production occurs within seven years.

• Bamboo is selectively harvested annually and nondestructively.

• Creating a family or village scale bamboo farm is easy and requires very little money.

• Bamboo production may be located to restore degraded land and protect against soil erosion.

• There are many bamboo varieties, some are non-invasive and may be intercropped with vegetables.

• The entire bamboo plant is beneficial: - poles (culms) are a superb construction material; - young shoots are edible; - leaves make good animal fodder and bedding; - branches are useful for making handicrafts.

Inter-nodal regions of the bamboo plant stem are hollow cylinders. Vascular bundles are unobstructed tubes which create strong fibers running the entire pole length; they are tightly packed throughout the pole circumference, not in tree-like rings. Bamboo has the potential to grow to full height and girth in a single growing season of 3-4 months.

During this first season, the clump of young shoots grow vertically, with no branching. In the next year, the pulpy wall of each culm slowly dries and hardens. The culm begins to sprout branches and leaves from each node. During the third year, the culm further hardens and is now considered a fully mature culm ready for harvest and suitable for use in construction. Time-to-harvest will vary slightly with variety, soil and climate.

Bamboo sheltering Shelter is among the most basic of human needs. Bamboo is so beautifully practical that it was probably used to make shelter the moment people first noticed it. Bamboo shelters are used both for temporary and long-term residence.

Shelter is accomplished by sheets of fabric or thatch over a frame of bamboo poles attached to the ground. Temporary shelters may evolve into artistic sculptures which will last many years, even generations. Temporary or permanent bamboo shelters range in size from single person tents to an architecturally beautiful structure large enough for a hospital or school.

Bamboo shelter designs could be inspired by tents. They can be used in humanitarian emergencies, such as war, earthquakes and fire, instead of tents, which are more expensive per unit of floor area, and usually not large enough for normal family living.

At times, however, these temporary shelters will become a semi-permanent home, especially for displaced people living in refugee camps who can't return to their former home and for whom no replacement homes are available. So think about this manual, billions of people need it, and their happiness effects us all.

Published by Stichting De Lutteltuin.nl • Copyrights © Antoon Versteegde 1984-2010 • c/o PictoRight NL • ISBN 90-800898-1-8 This publication was made possible with support of The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture • fondsbkvb.nl

22 | Shelter

Self-sheltering has been suggested for restoring the productivity of billions of people who have been displaced through natural disasters, war and the scramble for industrial scale resources, production and agriculture. The above photos support brief mention made of using the same techniques for larger infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. Imagine an emergency hospital quickly built and enclosed in a very remote location, finish work can proceed outside while emergency medical care is delivered inside.

Shelter | 23

Lightweight structures of bamboo Visual artist Antoon Versteegde has established his artistic freedom in a social milieu that transcends traditional institutes, exhibition spaces and artistic methods. He has conceived and created the very large temporary art constructions pictured in this manual in completely public spaces, with free access to all who are curious and interested enough to be welcomed as participants in his public art.

It is the public aspect of these artistic works which establishes Antoon Versteegde as a master of art happenings eminently qualified to discuss and help define self-sheltering for billions who are without adequate shelter.

Self-sheltering utilizes techniques with sculpturally beautiful and durable light-weight materials, it opens broad intellectual vistas for examination of a sustainable human culture which includes everyone and anyone who learns these techniques and then provides themselves with super low-cost shelter, potable water and sanitation.

www.versteegde.nl Self-sheltering Natural and human made disasters have become more difficult to alleviate with increased population.

The first level problem facing emergency responders is simply increased quantity due to larger populations effected. A second and more subtle problem associated with larger numbers of people caught in disaster is inadvertent creation of ghettos by emergency responders, humans do not live well for very long in large tent cities. Innovative solutions to emergency as well as chronic shelter inadequacy are difficult to visualize for large aid organizations which are accustomed to working with favored contract suppliers. Self-sheltering is a proven innovation growing to maturity independently because it focuses the energies of those in need. Self-sheltering benefits all humanity.

Pictures are included for self-confidence and inspiration.

www.self-sheltering.org