Summary + Reader response (Draft 3)
In the article, “An Architect’s Guide to Building with
Bamboo”, Vadot, (n.d) states that bamboo is a reliable and sustainable material
for future construction. He mentions that bamboos can mature fast with little
maintenance and it is being harvested in various places around the world.
Bamboo is available at a low cost in these areas, and it is affordable due to
its light weight as it can be transported easily. He also notes that bamboo is
often referred to as an alternative for steel due to its hardness. He then
explained that the bottom and top part of the bamboo can be used for different
purpose in construction. He concludes that it is impossible to classify all
1,200 species of bamboo under a standardized civil building code. However,
standards have been made locally in Columbia. While Vadot mentions mainly about
the advantages of bamboo and how it should be used as a material in
construction, he did not mention much about the disadvantages and why is it not
being used commonly.
From the article written by Vadot,
he mentions mainly the advantages such as bamboo being available at low cost. However,
there are reasons why it is not used widely in construction around the world due
to its disadvantages and Vadot fails to mention it. In the article “Bamboo as a
Construction Material”, Veronica, (2016) mentions that “finding a reliable
bamboo supplier that provides a quality product may be a challenge. If the
bamboo is imported, this usually equates to higher costs”. To be able to use
bamboo for construction, one must look for a suitable bamboo. It will be
challenging to look within 1200 species of bamboo and select the right one. For
example, in Singapore there isn’t any bamboo field. To obtain construction
graded bamboo Singapore must import from other countries which will increase
the cost. Vadot should have written the disadvantages for countries that does
not have its own bamboo field.
Secondly, Vadot states the advantage of bamboo over steel.
With his explanation “due to its hardness” that steel can be replaced by bamboo.
He should not only mention about the strength of bamboo, but also talk about
the weakness compared to steel. In the article “Comparative Analysis of The
Tensile Strength of Bamboo And Reinforcement Steel Bars As Structural Member In
Building Construction”, Ogunbiyi et al. (2015) states that “The tensile test
result indicates that bamboo unlike steel has a very poor tensile property and
undergoes brittle failure when loaded”. From this article It shows that bamboo
is much more brittle than steel. For a material to be used in constructing of a
structure, the safety consideration is the most important aspect. This shows a
huge disadvantage of bamboo as it experiences brittle failure when loaded.
Lastly, Vadot should have given reasons why bamboo is not
commonly used. From what we all know bamboo are not usually used in
constructing building, landmarks around us, we can hardly find any structure
built with it nowadays. From my own experience, I have only seen small houses
and hut that are built with bamboo. In the article “Bamboo as a Building
Material”, Dhenesh and Bindu, (2014) mentions that “bamboo is subjected to
attack by fungi, insects and for this reason bamboo structures are viewed as
temporary with an expected life of not more than 5 years” from this statement
it shows that bamboo is not as durable compared to those commonly used
materials. Therefore, bamboo is not commonly used. An important property of a
construction material is to be durable. Nowadays with materials evolving,
choices of material for construction increases. Hence, bamboo loses its
popularity.
In conclusion, Vadot article focus mainly on the advantages
of bamboo, it shows a one-sided point of view. If Vadot had included more disadvantages
and reasons why bamboo is not commonly used, his article would seem less biased.
Reference
Ar. Dhenesh Raj, Ar. Bindu Agarwal.
(2014). Bamboo as a Building Material. krishisanskriti.
https://www.krishisanskriti.org/vol_image/03Jul201502074415.pdf
Ogunbiyi, Moses A.,
Olawale, Simon O., Tudjegbe, Oke E., Akinola, S. R. (2015).
Comparative Analysis Of The Tensile Strength Of Bamboo And Reinforcement Steel
Bars As Structural Member In Building Construction.
Vadot, C. (n.d.). An Architect’s Guide to Building With
Bamboo. Architizer. https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/how-to-bamboo/
Veronica, R. (2016). Bamboo as a Construction
Material. MODLAR.
https://www.modlar.com/news/145/bamboo-as-a-construction-material/
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