In
the article, “An Architect’s Guide to Building with Bamboo”, Vadot (n.d) states
that bamboo is a reliable and sustainable future construction
material. The author finds that bamboo flourishes well across the world
with little maintenance and grows more near the equator. He adds that it is
best to harvest the bamboo when it is between four and six years old so that it
becomes construction-grade material, and often, it is referred to as steel’s
alternative. Bamboo is naturally protected against microorganisms from
"cut close to its base" harvest method. The author asserts that
bamboo is an incredibly lightweight material that can be used to accomplish
stable, weight-bearing structures that cannot be overlooked in the
construction industry. Bamboo is lightweight, easy and affordable to transport,
and low cost when bought near the plantation. Finally, Vadot highlights that
bamboo is fragile and there is no standard design code for 1200 species of
bamboo. While the author focused on advantages, he should also elaborate on the
disadvantages. In fact, he should explain the advantages and disadvantages
systematically.
First of all, the article does not
clearly describe all the benefits of bamboo. The author just briefly explains
bamboo’s strength and construction use. I feel that Vadot’s article requires
more description of bamboo’s strength with concrete evidence and how it is used
in construction industry, rather than just giving a few examples. There is no
coherence in Vadot’s explanation. In the article, Kim et al. (2019), gave
further explanations the features of bamboo, workability strength and its uses
with examples and reference relevant articles to support his explanation. I
feel that this article is complete. It also has a broader perspective of the property
of bamboo and its uses that correspond to its strength. Vadot could have
developed his article by focusing on a few points and explaining them in depth,
which would increase the weight of his points.
Secondly, Vadot mentions that it is
difficult to create a standard code for 1200 species of bamboo. Now is this an
advantage or a disadvantage? There is no connexion of this statement to his
entire article. Furthermore Suhaily et al. (2013) explain that there are 1575 different
species of bamboo and ranging from woody to bamboo. Out of all these, only
20-38 species are suitable for construction material. I notice that there is
contradicting information in both articles. I doubt Vadot’s credibility as he
has not elaborated on the total number of bamboo species. Furthermore, I reckon
that the article is lacking supporting information with verification that weigh
down the article’s reputation. Furthermore, the author states that the
bamboo is naturally protected against
microorganisms. However, Deka et al.
(2003) explain that bamboo must be treated to protect it from termites, an
issue that was supported by their experiments. Once again, there is conflicting
information in both articles that topples Vadot's reputation and baffles the
reader if Vadot had done good research on bamboo.
Lastly, Vadot states that bamboo is fragile, but there is no further
explanation to it. At the same time, in the article Jasondreamwork, (2016)
describes that while bamboo has short life span, it is prone to crush at weak
joints, it has low structural efficiently and it shrinks. Bamboo has fair
number of disadvantages, which are ignored in Vadot’s article. In my opinion,
Vadot fails to highlight both advantages and disadvantages equally that makes
his article be one sided. From his article, I do not learn much about bamboo
that make me harder to conclude or recommend it to others who love to use
bamboo for their home.
In a nutshell, bamboo has
its own good and bad qualities. If Vadot had explained all the
qualities and reinforced it with more evidence, his article would be well
grounded.
References
Valot, C.
(n.d). An Architect’s Guide to Building with Bamboo. Architizer. Blog
at architizer.com
https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/how-to-bamboo/
Manandhar, R., Kim, J.H., & Kim, J.T. (2019,
May 2). Environmental, social and economic
sustainability of bamboo and bamboo-based construction materials in
buildings. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 18(2),
49-59.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13467581.2019.1595629
Suhaily
et al. (2013). Bamboo based biocomposites material, design and
applications. Books of Materials Science,
published June 10th 2013. DOI:10.5772.56057
Deka M, Das P, Saikia C.N, (January 2003). Studies on dimensional
stability, thermal degradation and termite resistant properties of bamboo
(Bambusa tulda Roxb.) treated with thermosetting resins. Journal of
Bamboo and Rattern 2(1):29-41
Jasondreamwork. (May 21 2016). Disadvantage of
Bamboo As A Construction Material. Blog at Wordpress.com, published
2016.
https://jasondreamwork.wordpress.com/2016/05/21/disadvantage-of-bamboo/