Grow Your Own House: Simon Velez and Bamboo Architecture

Grow Your Own House: Simon Velez and Bamboo Architecture

Grow Your Own House: Simon Velez and Bamboo Architecture

Author(s): Simon Velez

Publisher: Vitra Design Museum; Bilingual edition (January 1, 2000)

ISBN-10: 3931936252

ISBN-13: 978-3931936259

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Today, people are rediscovering the advantages of bamboo, one of the world’s key construction materials. Not only is it cheap and enduring, but also has an unmistakable aesthetic appeal. It’s inner structure bears an astonishing resemblance to many high-tech compounds. This book offers scholarly text along with abundant photographs and sketches.

Simon Velez — today’s most renowned architect working in bamboo — is the focus of much of this material. His impressive engineering achievements are seen in generously overhanging roofs, ingenious load-bearing structures, sophisticated joints and an innovative combination of materials. He successfully brings together traditional Columbian structural designs, ecological processes and avant-garde technology. Prominently featured is Velez’ ZERI pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany.

The title implies a focus on residential work, but much (perhaps more than half) of the projects are commercial, showcasing some truly impressive engineering. While joinery, botany, structure and engineering are covered, the essence of this book is about the possibilities of bamboo as a truly modern sustainable building material. There is much to stimulate the intellect in both the text, photos and illustrations.

Also discussed are the bamboo experiments of Buckminster Fuller, Frei Otto, Renzo Piano, Shoei Yoh and Arata Isozaki. Essays by Jean Dethier, Walter Liese, Eda Schaur, Frei Otto and Mateo Kries are presented in German and English.

256 pages, 2000

Bamboo Rediscovered

Bamboo Rediscovered

Bamboo Rediscovered

Author(s): Victor Cusack

Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co

Paperback: 96 pages

ISBN: 0959588981

ISBN-13: 978-0959588989

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This is a long overdue book to the bamboo-world that concentrates mostly on tropical, or clumping, bamboo. If you live in a geographical area (zone 9 and above)that allows you to grow tropical bamboo, or if you just wish to learn more about tropical bamboo, this book is a wonderful resource. It touches on the specifics of growing many tropical species, including propagation. The poor reputation that invasive, running, temperate bamboo has carried is not shared by the tropical species. Thanks to references like this book, bamboo-enthusiasts are learning that, for some, there is an alternative.

Mechanical Properties of Bamboo

Mechanical Properties of Bamboo

Mechanical Properties of Bamboo

Author(s): Jules J.A. Janssen

Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Hardcover: 148 pages

ISBN: 0792312600

ISBN-13: 978-0792312604

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Hardcover Mechanical Properties of Bamboo (Forestry Sciences, Vol 37)

Building Bamboo Fences

Building Bamboo Fences

Building Bamboo Fences

Author: Isao Yoshikawa

Publisher: Books Nippan (June 1999)

Paperback: 184 pages

ISBN: 476610997X

ISBN-13: 978-4766109979

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Eleven prominent styles of bamboo fence are presented, giving a basic understanding of the art form, with detailed building instructions and design ideas for each.

About the Author

ISAO YOSHIKAWA
Born in Tokyo in 1940. Graduated from the Architecture Department of Shibaura Technical University. He established the Japan Garden Research Association in 1963. Presently chairperson of the Association. The honorary president of the Suzhou Society for study of Landscape & Gandens, China. The honorary president of the Hangzhou Society for study of Landscape & Gardens, China. He plays an active part as a scholar of Japanese gardens. a garden architect, a designer of stone art objects, etc.Major books he has authored include “Bamboo fences” (Ariake Shobo, 1977), “Style of Famous Garden in Japan” (Kenchiku Shiryo Kenkyusha. 1978), “Details of Garden Design” (Kenchiku Shiryo Kenkyusha. 1978), “Pasing Stones and Stepping Stones” (Ariake Shobo, 1979), “Gardens in Kyoto” (Kodansha, 1981), “An Illustrated Dictionary of Bamboo Fence and Rock Arrangement” (Kenchiku Shiryo Kenkyusha, 1 9R4), “Japanese Garden Architects (Japan Garden Research Association. 1993) and “Making a Small Garden” (Boutique-sha Co.. 1996).

 

The Book of Bamboo: A Comprehensive Guide to This Remarkable Plant, Its Uses, and Its History

The Book of Bamboo: A Comprehensive Guide to This Remarkable Plant, Its Uses, and Its History

The Book of Bamboo: A Comprehensive Guide to This Remarkable Plant, Its Uses, and Its History

Author(s): David Farrelly

Publisher: Sierra Club Books

ISBN: 087156825X

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Hardcover
Publication date: October 1995

This is the bamboo bible.

Bamboo’s amazing versatility, strength, and beauty have given it a larger role in human culture than any other plant. Both sustainable and plentiful, it has been used for millennia to make objects ranging from clothing and housing to more exotic luxuries like phonograph needles and children’s toys, to name but a few.
This acclaimed sourcebook—part history, part illustrated catalog,part cultivation guide—details the myriad uses of bamboo, along with an immense bounty of information and lore on how to grow, maintain, and harvest this extraordinary plant; how to use it in craft and construction projects, including floors, fences, papers, and play equipment; and bamboo’s place in the literary, visual, and musical arts. An encyclopedic roster of more than 1,200 bamboo species is a book in itself, as is author David Farrelly’s A-to-Z catalog of artifacts made from bamboo: acupuncture needles, blowguns, bridges, kites, ships, violins, windmills, and a thousand other things.
Strong, flexible, and beautiful in both its natural and finished states, bamboo is an abundant resource that could beneficially replace many less sustainable materials currently in use, and continue to transform our culture in the process.

The Bamboos

The Bamboos

The Bamboos

Author(s): F. A. McClure, Richard Haubrich, Lynn Clark

Publisher: Smithsonian Inst Press

Paperback: 368 pages

ISBN: 156098323X

ISBN-13: 978-1560983231

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The Bamboos Reprint Edition
Publication date: November 1993

Table of Contents
Introduction
Pt. I. The Bamboo Plant
1. Vegetative Phase: The Maturing Plant
2. Reproductive Phase
3. Vegetative Phase: The Seedling
Pt. II. Elite Bamboos and Propagation Methods
4. Selected Species
5. Propagation
Pt. III. Bases of Classification
6. Flowering and Fruiting Behavior in Bamboos of Different Genera and Species
7. Bamboos from the Point of View of Taxonomy
Appendix I. Generic Key to Bamboos under Cultivation in the United States and Puerto Rico
Glossary
Literature Cited
Index of Scientific Names
Index of Subjects

Building with Bamboo: A Handbook

Building with Bamboo: A Handbook

Building with Bamboo: A Handbook

Author(s): Jules Janssen

Publisher: Intermediate Technology

Paperback: 56 pages

ISBN: 1853392030

ISBN-13: 978-1853392030

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Bamboo is strong, stiff, hard and clean. It can be grown on a small scale and used in buildings, bridges, furniture and fences. But can it be used in cold climates? This book will help you answer that question for yourself. Here you’ll learn the anatomy of this prolific grass and the terminology that describes it. The heart of Building with Bamboo covers the nuts and bolts of engineering and construction, including topics such as strength and allowable load, cost comparison methodology, joinery, foundations, flooring, walls, windows and doors. It even discusses how bamboo can be used to reinforce concrete. With this book, you’ll learn how to work with bamboo to favor its strengths and avoid its weaknesses.

Bamboos

Bamboos

Bamboos

Author(s): Christine Recht, Max F. Wetterwald, David Crampton (Editor), Walters

Publisher: Timber Press

Hardcover: 128 pages

ISBN: 0881922684

ISBN-13: 978-0881922684

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The Bamboos Reprint Edition

Using bamboos as design elements is stressed in this encyclopedia of species particularly suited for use in the garden or in containers. It also provides essential information for growing these exotic treelike grasses successfully.

Paperback, 345 pages
Publication date: November 1993
Table of Contents
Introduction
Pt. I.
The Bamboo Plant
1. Vegetative Phase: The Maturing Plant
2. Reproductive Phase
3. Vegetative Phase: The Seedling
Pt. II. Elite Bamboos and Propagation Methods
4. Selected Species
5. Propagation Pt. III. Bases of Classification
6. Flowering and Fruiting Behavior in Bamboos of Different Genera and Species
7. Bamboos from the Point of View of Taxonomy
Appendix I. Generic Key to Bamboos under Cultivation in the United States and Puerto Rico
Glossary Literature Cited
Index of Scientific Names
Index of Subjects