Architect Neelam Manjunath, Managing Trustee of the Centre for Green Building Material and Technology (CGBMT), and noted practitioner of low-energy and sustainable materials in her work, is a bamboo enthusiast. She is known for her passion for green buildings. Having acquired degrees in Architecture from Lucknow University and Dayalbagh University, Agra, she set up practice in Bengaluru in 1994 and has become known for several landmark structures with induction of bamboo. She is currently engaged in giving shape to Shilparamam project in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, which is coming up on two lakh sq. ft. space. She was instrumental in designing and constructing the Avilala Ecological Park near Tirupati. She spoke to The Hindu on use of bamboo as a construction material.
Q: Characteristics of bamboo that lured you into its use and propagation?
A: Bamboo is a wonderful material. It is flexible, light, simple, resilient, renewable and has high tensile strength. More research is needed on its properties for its effective induction into the construction activity.
How does bamboo fare when it comes to modern urban affordable housing which inevitably has to be high-rise structures, given the constraints on space?
It is true that bamboo cannot replace steel and concrete in all their roles. But elements of construction can use bamboo.
All my projects have used bamboo. It can be used in doors, columns, beams, rafters, and windows. Bamboo has to be treated before use and its essential properties have to be respected. Design of structures that induct bamboo has to be different from those that take steel. There are design parameters to be considered.
Bamboo wood (composites) works out expensive. While a 10-foot raw bamboo, in finished and treated form, costs ₹400, a 10-foot long and three-inch diameter bamboo wood (an industrial product) may cost ₹2,500. It loses lot of its natural properties and will be heavy.
What other uses could be found for bamboo?
Bamboo could be used for urban public buildings such as bus shelters, rain shelters, car park covers, stadiums. I have even proposed a metro station from bamboo to the BMRCL.
Bamboo has been used for interiors in the Kempegowda International Airport’s Terminal-II. This is the second airport in the world, after Madrid (Spain) to use bamboo.
What are the constraints in popular use of bamboo as a building material?
Supply chain of bamboo in its raw form does not exist. This is imperative if it has to be popularised. It has taken time for the authorities to remove bamboo from the tree category which attracted the Forest Act. It was done only two years ago.
Bamboo can be planted on the sidings of the railways tracks in the country. Even highways could have bamboos planted on the two sides. It can act as a carbon sink for pollution generated by transport.
M.A. SIRAJ