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Bamboo, The Greenest Thing Going
Rapidly Renewable, Restorative, Versatile Building Material. by David Sands, AIA.
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| PAIA HAWAII – April 15, 2007. A small company in Hawaii has made a major step in sustainable construction. Bamboo Technologies of Maui, co-founded by architect David E. Sands, AIA, and Jeffree Trudeau, an RPI graduate in Architecture, is providing the first ever ICC certified structural bamboo poles for use in construction, and is currently approved for use in residential construction and small commercial projects. Work is underway to expand certification to larger commercial projects. In fire tests the bamboo poles performed well with low flame spread and fuel contribution numbers. |
| Bamboo Technologies can provide certified bamboo poles for use in construction projects and can panelize projects for clients throughout the world. In 2005, a bamboo resort in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, designed and built by Bamboo Technologies, sustained three hurricanes with tsunami-like waves and winds in excess of 170 mph. Wood frame resorts nearby were lost while bamboo houses had minimal damage. |
| The structural bamboo shell for panelized housing can be erected extremely fast. A two-story bamboo home with 2500 s.f. under roof was recently erected in just 8 days on Big Island Hawaii. |
| A versatile and beautiful material, bamboo is currently being used in various parts of the world for high end homes and resorts, bridges, and factory structures as well as disaster relief housing. One of the aftershocks of the deadly tsunami in the Indian Ocean is the deforestation occurring on the areas hit to get lumber to rebuild. Bamboo provides an ecological alternative. Architects are encouraged to apply their creativity to this new material. The sky is the limit and the result is a cleaner, bluer sky for us all. |
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Building Code Certified Structural Bamboo
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In November 2004, Bamboo Technologies received confirmation from ICC Evaluation Service that structural bamboo poles used in Bamboo Living Homes complies with the International Building Codes. This structural bamboo will be included in the Building Code system for permitted buildings. This is the first time a species of bamboo has been approved as a structural material in the Building Code System.
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ICC Evaluation Service Report ESR-1636 (Nov. 2004) states Structural Bamboo Poles produced by Bamboo Technologies comply with the provisions of the following codes: 2003 International Building Code (IBC), 2003 International Residential Code (IRC) and 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC). "The structural bamboo poles are used as structural elements in wall, roof and floor trusses (panels) or as individual compression and/or tension members in Type V non-fire resistance rated residential and commercial construction". This confirmation provides guidance to code officials faced with approving the use of structural bamboo poles in Bamboo Living Homes under these codes. The evaluation report is available online at www.icc-es.org.
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“This is the first certification for bamboo as a structural building material in the USA, Canada and Europe. Getting bamboo in building codes is a huge step forward,” explains Jeffree Trudeau, founder of Bamboo Technologies. “Homebuyers can get permits for bamboo homes with greater ease.”
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2007 International Bamboo Building Design Competition
An Architecture Design Competition: "Visionary Designs for Ecological Living"
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PAIA HAWAII – May 1, 2007. The International Bamboo Building Design Competition has announced the 4 top award winners. The 12 building category winners and the 50 finalists finalists from 25 countries and their entries are shown online at www.bamboocompetition.com.
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This competition was created to develop new award winning designs for bamboo buildings, raise awareness of the use of certified structural bamboo for building code approved structures, and introduce architects, designers and builders to working with bamboo as a structural material.
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