Partners
Quakeschool Consulting Ahmedabad, India
Wondergrass Initiatives Pvt. Ltd, Nagpur, India
Geotech Services Ltd., Nagpur, India

Supported by
National Mission for Bamboo Applications (NMBA), New Delhi

Objective
To understand structural behavior of the building components made from bamboo; essentially the structural members such as columns, beams and trusses used in a typical housing-solution being designed by Wondergrass, using the D Strictus specie.

This was an attempt towards developing a schematic 'model' that can provide us a basis for structural design of the bamboo-components in a systematic and methodical manner.

Tasks
The project was a collaborative effort where Wondergrass worked on design and coordination aspects of this project, Geotech services concentrated on the physical testing that was required. We worked on the following components:

· Structural analysis of the individual components using standard structural engineering software

· Preparation of  a schematic model for basis of structural design of the bamboo-components in a systematic and methodical manner

Lessons
A few lessons we could assimilate:

· Actions and forces on a bamboo structure are best addressed by the design and craft, and existing engineering guidelines and standards needs to be more flexible and require further research in this aspect.

· One can ignore extensive structural calculation related to horizontal effects of earthquake because of the inherent flexibility in the material member.

· Innovative housing remains a big challenge in India, and there are only few agencies addressing this issue. Unfortunately, Bamboo is seen, by practitioners and people alike, as an obsolete and a weak material; rather than its versatility .