Bamboo For Flooring

One thing about living in the future as we are in this Twenty-First century of ours, is that we often think that we have made a better mousetrap when it comes to durable and structurally sound materials in which we can place our  trust.  But, Mother Nature has been at this game longer than we have.  While perusing some pictures of construction projects from around the world, I came across yet another use for bamboo; scaffolding!

Take a look at this picture!

This is a shot of bamboo scaffolding being used in modern day Hong Kong.  Bamboo scaffolding has been a practice in Chinese construction traditions for thousands of years, a long enough time for it to be considered among many to be more than just a practical solution. This practice is considered to be an art form too.  To me, this is absolutely incredible to think that a natural product like bamboo can be used to support the weight of workers and the weight of their equipment too, over a period of time that it takes to renovate a building, or construct a building project from scratch!

Some of the advantages of bamboo scaffolding include how lightweight the material is relative to how sturdy it is.  So for construction companies, it’s easier to move from site to site.  And of course, once the project is finished, it’s a less cumbersome process to dismantle the scaffolding to be used on another project.

There are other advantages having to do with the cultural significance of bamboo as a building material.   Good feng-shui, and general good luck with which bamboo is closely associated in Chinese culture are all reasons why the practice is still alive and well today.

In many parts of the world, bamboo scaffolding is used in conjunction with metal scaffolding. But, in places like Hong Kong, it’s very common that bamboo be the sole material for even the largest construction projects.

For more information and pictures, check out this blog post about bamboo scaffolding from Gadling.com.

Is there anyone out there who’s ever worked construction on a bamboo scaffold?  I’d love to hear about it!

Cheers!

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Hey everyone,

In my daily journey in scouring the Internet for interesting articles and media, I’ve discovered a series of videos about bamboo, from the point of view of a grower, not a flooring manufacturer.

I thought it might be interesting to find out about bamboo as a plant, and how it’s use has been in parallel with civilizations all over the world, and for thousands of years.  I really do find the idea fascinating.  Bamboo is material that was used five thousand years ago in China, is being used today here in Vancouver, and in many other parts of the world, in the twenty-first century.  That’s staying power!

I love history, and the idea that people have remained basically the same across the ages, and across cultures too.  In the building materials, textiles, and artistic spheres too, bamboo has been a proven material to count on.  Heck, we even eat the stuff!  The videos talk a bit about this history, plus something about how many subspecies of bamboo there are, how it contributes to eco-systems, and more.  Enjoy, and tell me what you think, good people.

Cheers!

Rob.

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More about bamboo versatility!

OK, this takes the cake as far as bamboo use goes.  A colleague of mine  sent me a link from Dell, the popular computer wholesaler, who have recently marketed a “green PC”, which uses less power and described as a “conscientious desktop PC”.

What caught my eye of course is the optional bamboo cover  for the monitor and the box itself.  This cover is made from actual bamboo, not a laminate design.  My first thought was, “if the Professor from Gillian’s Island built a PC, it might look something like this:

But, that’s only because my brain is basically one big TV and Music re-run reel.

Cheers,

Rob.

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Bamboo is a versatile material.  You’ve heard it here from Matt and me quite a bit of course.  And you’ve heard it elsewhere too, by now.  It’s good the look, the functional benefits, and the advantage of sustainability too.  But, bamboo has something else too - artistry.

Take a look at this story that talks about bamboo in non-functional works of art, which proves the point.  Each piece uses bamboo differently too, revealing the talents of the artists, but also shows something about how many forms bamboo can take; smooth surfaces, rough ones, conical ones, flat ones.   The results are, to my untrained eye, pretty cool!

As a marketer, I’ve written a lot about how great bamboo as flooring is.  But, it’s interesting to note that bamboo is also a useful raw material for those who are going for pure conceptualism.

The show the article talks about is being held at the Japan Society in New York City from October 4 to January 11.  If anyone out there gets to go, I’d love to hear a review!

Cheers,

Rob.

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Here’s a story about six energy efficient, green built homes in the San Leornando area, another example of green building in action, this time in the East Bay area in California.  And once again, the properties are both stylishly laid out, and green at the same time, proving that one isn’t achieved at the expense of the other.

Of course the thing that alerted me to this story was the use of bamboo flooring.  But, there are other additions to the project which made me take notice - tankless water heaters, and drought-resistant plants added for landscaping.  A trend I’m seeing is that the idea that every region is different, and that building with the characteristics of a region in mind is an underlying commonality when it comes to building green.  In my post about the sustainable house in Seattle for instance, the design there took advantage of heavy rainfall by incorporating a ‘rain harvesting’ system.  Here, it’s all about making room for droughts.  This illustrates the point that one size does not fit all when it comes to building green.

And once again, I think this reveals that the evolution of the construction industry is moving toward sustainability, not as a fad, but as a goal that is as much of a learning process as it is a finished result.  If you’re reading Colin Laughlan’s blog about green building and all of the ins and outs of it, you’ll realize that the green building movement is very much in flux, with best practices and standards developing as things roll forward.  And even here in this article, it’s admitted by the developer that with this, their first project, they are “still educating themselves on the whole process.”

There are many benefits to green building it seems to me.  And one of the biggies is that complacency no longer has as much of a place.

Cheers!

Rob.

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Creativity really turns my crank.  And apart from the obvious benefits of building green and using green building materials like bamboo flooring, one of the things that comes out of this shift in consciousness when it comes to designing and building homes is how architects and interior designers are applying ideas that I as a layman can only describe as supercool.

Take a look at this article about a green building project in Seattle that uses all kinds of innovative ideas that make it a property which ‘responds to the surrounding environment’.  That is, the property is incorporated into its surroundings, rather than just being slapped on a piece of land. For instance, the home has what they’ve called a rainwater harvesting system, which basically funnels rainwater (and remember, this is Seattle…) into large concrete tanks.  From here, the rainwater is plumbed into the house, used for toilets and for laundry.  The tanks are tastefully integrated into the design of the home, less water is used for amenities, and the water bill for the residents is significantly lowered too - everybody wins.  Genius.  Supercool.

The design utilizes other green building practices too: natural daylight enabled by the layout, reclaimed materials (doors, fixtures, etc), and of course bamboo floors which we’ve talked about at length on this here blog - fast growing, durable, best use of raw materials, etc, etc.  Of course, the function enabled by the design doesn’t sacrifice on visual results.  Actually, the two seem to work in conjunction with the other.  Sustainability may be the goal, but I love that the visual effect pans out to be pretty impressive too.  I only hope that some of these ideas hit the mainstream too.

The company responsible for the design is Fivedotdesignbuild.com, a Seattle firm who make sustainability a specialty.

Cheers!

Rob.

image of ‘The Orchard’ courtesy of seattlepi.nwsource.com

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It’s curious that a lot of rhetoric promoting ‘green’ as far as homeowning goes is largely based around financial gain these days.  Still, it’s a pretty compelling reason to do it.  Take a look at this article about going green, which talks about a recent survey of the National Association of Realtors.

The results of the survey showed that 9 out of 10 realtors reported that their clients were interested in green building features.  Additionally, 90% of those realtors agreed that even more interest in properties which feature green building materials and  enable green practices is likely a year from now.  When looking to sell a home, it seems that the issue of sustainability and energy efficiency are big ticket selling points.  So, even if you think that global warming isn’t a man-made problem, apparently money talks anyway!

Cheers!

Rob.

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One of the things which characterizes bamboo flooring is how well the process makes the most of natural resources and how it’s generally known as an environmentally-conscious choice when shopping for flooring.  And one of the things I always come across when thinking about bamboo are stories about how the imaginations of people have been fired up to the point where they take a crazy idea, turn it into a reality, and sort of transform it into something which isn’t so crazy after all. I’m mean when you think about it, making a tall grass into a floor sounds absurd, doesn’t it?  Yet, look how popular bamboo floors have become.

Luckily, bamboo flooring is just one example of green thinking, and execution.  I’ve had a lot of fun finding out about things like this.  This time around, I’ve discovered a number of stories about where are being called ‘people-powered gyms’, which are what they say they are on the tin.  Remember that episode of the Muppet Show, when Doctor Bunsen Honeydew of Muppet Labs hooks his assistant Beaker up to a treadmill to keep the power on at the Muppet Theatre - ‘Beaker Power’?

No?

Well, the idea of a people-powered gym works just like that, although no ferocious tigers are released to make tired treadmill users run faster when the lights start dimming (unlike Beaker’s situation).  No, the power in the building is still running about 60%-70% by traditional means, with the people in the gym making up the difference.

Take a look at this article from the LA times about people powered gyms which explains things in greater detail.

Cheers!

Rob.

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