Do Bamboo - A Sustainable Bio-Based Full-Scale Spatial Structure
Researchers:
- Dieter Hillewaere
- Jan Belis (supervisor)
Description:
22 Students have designed, modelled, tested and built a full-scale bamboo spatial structure in the framework of Prof. Jan Belis' 2nd bachelor Construction course. The 15m diameter reciprocal frame structure was built in Sinaai (Sint-Niklaas, Belgium) and will be used by the local youth to host a summer bar and a variety of pop-up events during the summer of 2022. Bamboo is a renewable building material with a low ecological footprint and a significant strength, and is therefore actively investigated at the Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory. Groups of two bachelor students made in total 48 pre-design scale models and technical drawings, of which a professional jury made a shortlist. Subsequently, local youth representatives selected the winning design. In few weeks time, students performed experimental parametric analyses, created a 3D computer model, developed technical details, prepared materials, learned how to practically manufacture connections and tested them experimentally. Finally, the team built the structure on-site in less than one week. The overall structure contains 162 m of bamboo and has a total mass of 296 kg (excluding concrete foundation blocks).
Partners involved:
