Summary + Reader Response (Draft 4)

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 explains 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, such as the challenges faced when finding a reliable bamboo supplier, how brittle bamboo is and why is it not being used commonly.

From the article written by Vadot, he mentions the advantages such as bamboo being available at low cost. He should also mention about the challenges faced when finding a reliable bamboo. 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. 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 do not have their own bamboo field.

Secondly, Vadot fails to mention on how brittle bamboo is, which is a major disadvantage of bamboo as a construction material. In his article he 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. Currently Bamboo are not used in constructing building, landmarks around us, we can hardly find any structure built with it nowadays. In the article “Bamboo as a Building Material”, Dhenesh and Bindu, (2014) mentioned 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 construction 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.

http://www.ijstr.org/final-print/nov2015/Comparative-Analysis-Of-The-Tensile-Strength-Of-Bamboo-And-Reinforcement-Steel-Bars-As-Structural-Member-In-Building-Construction.pdf

 

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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