Construction with local resources

Construction with smoked bamboo

The engineer Antonio Giraldo (from Armenia, Quindio), learned from Marcelo Villegas the essential principles in the smoked bamboo process, a Japanese natural treatment based on 500 years of experience.

The Architect Simon Velez, Marcelo Villegas and Olga Lucia Londoño, were invited by the ZERI Global Network to make a technical visit to Japan with the support of the “Natural Life Foundation” of Japan, to know the ovens for smoking wood (including bamboo).

The ovens use wood waste for production of charcoal and use the smoke of this process to treat fresh and green bamboo. It was demonstrated in Japan that the mixture of the smoke generated from wood with the juice from the bamboo plant protects bamboo against insects and fungi attacks. Smoking the Bamboo prevents termites from attacking it!!!

Antonio developed an experimental furnace and after 6 months he built a larger oven with capacity to treat 200 pieces of bamboo of 9 meters long at the same time.

Scientific investigations have confirmed the efficiency of this treatment, which eliminates harmful gases in the production of charcoal while immunizing the bamboo (against insects and fungi) without the need to use toxic industrial chemicals that pollute the house and are harmful to health.

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<center>Process of the Bamboo

Native bamboo plants around La Miñoca

It must be between 4 and 5 years
It must be cut on waning in the 3 nights of more darkness
In the dawn 10:00 pm – 6:00 am
It should be cut between the first and second joint to prevent fungal attack and moisture. And facilitate regeneration and grow of new ones
Leave vinegar in the bamboo field for 2 weeks (so that the sap goes down and prevent pest attack)
Choose good quality bamboo
Take out from the bamboo field and dry vertically for 2 weeks
Immunize: put in the oven for 2 weeks at 50°C
Cleanness

: *Bamboo structure, reinforced with steel and concrete.

: *Wall inclination for better stability.

: Wall inclination for better stability.

: Daub wall with double covering: to generate isolation.

: *Concrete foundation to protect the Bamboo.

: *Manpower specialized in Bamboo construction techniques.

Construction with other local resources…Blue Economy Style!

FiqueCañabravaMacana or Chonta Palm TreeOther resources

Fique

Furcraea andina
Used on roofs as basis for soil mix.

Name: Fique
Kingdom: Vegetable
Gender: Furcraea
Family: Agavacense
Class:Angioesparmae
Subclass: Monocotyledonae

It is a Colombian native stalk grown in the Andes mountain range, especially in the departments of Antioquia, Boyaca, Cauca, Nariño and Santander.

Cañabrava – Wildcane

Gynerium sagittatum
Used in the ceilings.

Kingdom: Plantae
Group: Monocot
Class: Commelinids
Genus: Gynerum
Family: Poaceae

Tall grass that grows up to six meters (twenty feet) high. It is a very vigorous species that grows into a considerably dense mass of vegetation. Native to Mexico, Central America, South America, and the West Indies.

Macana or Chonta Palm Tree

Iriartea deltoidea
Used in the handrails and interior stairs and doors.

Kingdom: Plantae
Group: Magnoliophyta
Family: Arecaceae
Class: Liliopsida
Subclass: Commelinidae
Genus: Iriartea
Family: Poaceae

Soil from the site: clay for the shingles, soil used as part of the mix for the base of the ceilings, and to paint the walls: mix of Acronal and Terracotta.

The house and the red clay channel are surrounded by Lemongrass plants (Cymbopogon citrates) to repel mosquitos!