Mass Bamboo

Housing demand

Africa's changing demographics and economic conditions have created a pressing need for improved housing. With the world's fastest-growing population, Africa will require millions of new homes by 2050. Affordable housing is in high demand, but the supply has not kept pace, leading many to turn to informal settlements that often lack basic services and are constructed with subpar materials. Like many other African countries, Ghana has a housing deficit of 1.7 million.  

Housing quality

The United Nations has strongly emphasized the provision of adequate housing to ensure human security, health, and nutrition. But unfortunately, a considerable fraction of the urban population in Africa still lives in slums, lacking basic infrastructure and access to quality living. Meeting the housing needs of the growing population is crucial for sustainable urban development and the well-being of millions of Africans. By doing so, we can accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

Affordability

Housing affordability has been a long-standing issue in Africa, particularly in urban areas where rapid urbanization has led to a surge in demand for housing. The lack of reasonably priced and adequate homes for low-income families has resulted in substandard living conditions, overpopulation, and homelessness. Additionally, the escalating costs of conventional building materials and land acquisition have caused a significant deficit inaccessible and secure housing. Consequently, slums have become the most prominent and unique form of settlement.

Environmental impact /climate change

The United Nations' sustainability goal for 2050 aims to slow down the impact of global warming by eliminating human-made carbon dioxide emissions. The buildings and construction industry is responsible for 36% of the world's energy consumption. As a construction material, bamboo has a lower carbon footprint than concrete. This makes it a promising solution to address safety, economic, and ecological issues related to urbanization while promoting sustainable development. Furthermore, it can facilitate integrated development and improve the lives of millions living below the poverty line.

Conventionally bamboo construction is divided into two categories, "bamboo engineering" and "engineered bamboo," However, we see them as two extremes of a single spectrum. On one end are lattice systems that use single culm structural elements as columns, beams, and struts to create designs emphasizing the material's lightness and tensile strength. However, lattice systems face challenges resulting from a lack of material uniformity, making joining structures difficult and less reliable than engineered material systems; this limits application to low-rise construction of often temporary open-air applications.

Conversely, "engineered bamboo" creates homogenized composites from Bamboo but involves breaking down the culm into aggregate fibers as scrimber, fiber strands, or chips. This fiber, mixed with an adhesive matrix, makes pressed panels using heat and pressure, which one might consider ideal for modern interiors. However, this process eliminates some of the structural benefits of Bamboo. In addition, it often requires a large percentage of glue to bind the fibers together or a significant loss of biomass.

While both exciting approaches hold promise, we believe there is synergy in combining culm and composite Bamboo. Therefore, our proposal aims to tackle this challenge.

We are developing building products that use Bamboo's sectional properties but in composite to form a panelized design and construction system. In addition, we are focused on monitoring and evaluating the carbon sequestration related to this process. We call this system Mass Bamboo. It uses digital sensing, structural analysis, and computational design workflows to create semi-regular, engineered bamboo structures that preserve each culm's natural high strength-to-weight potential but can deliver reliable, repeatable building results.    

LAMINATED CULM BAMBOO

Mass Bamboo will use various components to make a complete building system, including cross-laminated panels, parallel culm laminated beams, and hybrid elements such as lightly modified bamboo trusses, all to meet varying structural and programmatic purposes. We have tested various prototypes for panels and other elements that can be used for floors, walls, columns, and beams. We aim to minimize any alteration of the bamboo culm to reduce waste and maintain its natural structure. Furthermore, reducing energy and labor inputs will help lower environmental and economic costs. However, since mechanical properties vary within species, we need more testing data to establish the minimum performance of different species and understand the impact of growing conditions such as soil moisture and PH. Nevertheless, the structural testing of culms and composite assemblies for the Mass Bamboo system has already shown great promise.  

MASS-CUSTOMIZATION / PARAMETERIZED BAMBOO    

Conventionally Bamboo's naturally inconsistent morphology has been a setback in using it for standardized construction. However, this variation can be seen as an opportunity to integrate Bamboo's natural structural intelligence into mass customization of design and construction. The material's specific qualities can be incorporated using computational tools and digital manufacturing, resulting in a diverse and efficient design vocabulary. We are developing simple bamboo-specific sensing technology from simple IOT Arduino camera modules to Bamboo 3d scans at low cost and with appropriate accuracy. To create a real-time digital library of unique bamboo pieces and or features. This library of available data is then integrated into a computational script that uses evolutionary solvers to find the most appropriate bamboo culm for each member of an assembly based on a set of assigned criteria.

• Our solution serves families in Africa who live in precarious housing conditions.
• Resilient housing design holds the key to reducing emissions from multifamily housing during construction, operation, and end-of-life. By using low-carbon materials, the overall carbon footprint can be reduced. However, we must address the barriers to local adoption of such practices to achieve this goal. It is vital to ensure that affordable housing is built in an environmentally sustainable way and contributes to a greener future for all. Using resilient materials and innovative design, we can create housing that benefits the residents and the planet.

Our team is led by the founding inventor of the US patent pending Mass Bamboo system, Jonas Hauptman, a thought leader who aims to revolutionize bamboo construction. Our team has diverse backgrounds, including industrial design, wood science, civil, computer, mechanical engineering, architecture, circular economics, etc. We are highly qualified local and international researchers, entrepreneurs, and builders. Our Three Principal Investigators are bamboo building experts, two of whom serve on the International Bamboo and Ratan Organization (INBAR)*, Bamboo Construction Task Force as Key Experts, and two of whom are experts from and practice in Sub-Saharan Africa.  

Currently, we are collaborating with different African institutes to test the viability of Mass Bamboo from locally cultivated bamboo species. After testing and fine-tuning our system, we plan to build a multi-story building from Mass Bamboo.     

Our team is comprised of 8 prominent members, including:  

• *Emmanuel Appiah-Kubi, Ph.D. (PI), is a Structural Engineer, Research Scientist, and senior lecturer at the Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Kumasi, Ghana. He is a member of the ISO Technical Committees on Timber Construction (TC 195) and Bamboo and Rattan (TC 296). In addition, he leads the laboratory for wood/Bamboo Testing at CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana.  
• Alemayehu Darge (PI) is an Ethiopian and Faculty member at the Institute of Architecture, Building Construction, and Urban Design (EiABC), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He is a Structural, Civil, and Architectural Engineer. He is the Chair of the National Bamboo Construction Center (NBCC).    

BioDesign Research Group at Virginia Tech (BDRG) USA  

• *Jonas Hauptman(PI) is an American Inventor and Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at Virginia Tech (VT), co-founder of BDRG, and the primary inventor of the Mass Bamboo System (MBS).  
• Daniel Hindman, Ph.D., PE (Co-Pi), is an American Civil Engineering and Associate Professor of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech and co-inventor of the MBS.  
• Jennifer Russel, Ph.D. (Co-Pi), is Canadian and is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech, an expert in Circular Economy and Life cycle Assessment.    
• Kalkidan Debela is a registered Ethiopian Architect and a Doctoral Research Assistant in the BDRG; her research focuses on developing midrise bamboo housing from MBS for urban sites in emerging Sub-Saharan African Cities.  
• Seyed Ali Derazgisoo is an Iranian Technologist, a Visiting Scholar in Architecture, and a Computational Designer at VT specializing in machine learning for building information models. His focus at the BDRG is to optimize natural bamboo elements in the Mass bamboo System through machine vision and machine learning.
• Ramtin Haghnazar, Ph.D. is Iranian and a Technologist and Adjunct Faculty of Architecture and Visiting Scholar in Computational Design at the BDRG, where he focuses on Digital Design and fabrication through the development and testing of computational software and fabrication technologies for bamboo.

None

• To extend our patent pending solution currently developed from Vietnamese semi-solid bamboo developed in the USA to advancing and adjusting the technology for open source applications with Sub-Saharan African bamboo for  Ghana, Ethiopia, and beyond, we will need new financial support. 
• Historically in the Global South generally and in Sub-Saharan Africa specifically bamboo has been cast off as "poor man's timber" and in some countries, the building codes have even outlawed or restricted its use. Some of these obstacles have already started to change but there are also cultural and educational obstacles that we will need to investigate and ultimately overcome to succeed at implementing Mass Bamboo to solve the African housing crisis.

• Current bamboo structures typically consist of (1) lattice-based structures using full culm bamboo, which do not create modern building enclosures, or (2) bamboo composites which require disaggregation and reconstitution of the bamboo, increasing the carbon footprint. Our concept, Mass Bamboo, is a lightly modified bamboo composite system that uses digital analysis and fabrication tools to create panelized building systems that utilize the sectional properties of full culm bamboo with composite cross-lamination strategies.

• In the coming year, we plan to find funding to test the mass bamboo panel in different African cities with local Bamboo species. By doing so, we develop the building material that works for different parts of building elements. These elements will be country-specific products. After testing and approving the elements, our long-term plan is to develop small/medium manufacturing to mass customize. It produces the elements to deliver an alternative housing model based on the principle of sustainability, affordability, circularity, and human-centeredness for African cities.
•  We have currently found collaborators from Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya.

SDG 3 

3.1. Provided standard housing for better well-being

Safe and affordable housing is essential for human well-being and significantly impacts health outcomes. Our goal is to provide standard housing at affordable prices.

SDG 8 

8.1. Train and recruit unemployed local staff and create local economic value from natural renewable resources to foster local integrated circular material cultivation, trade, and building application.

8.2. Create new jobs for local construction workers

8.3. Expanding the industry of bamboo construction 

SDG 9  

9.1. Computational design and digital fabrication development

We aim to bring complex design tools into everyday construction to make them more practical and affordable, particularly in developing countries. Our goal is to use open-source technologies to showcase real-world applications of modern design in architecture and construction, encouraging open innovation in Africa and other developing economies.

SDG 11  

11.1. Ensure access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing

This United Nations Sustainable Development Goal prioritizes the right to adequate housing for human security, health, and nutrition. However, a significant percentage of the urban population in Africa lives in slum conditions. Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims to upgrade these conditions and provide universal access to safe and affordable housing by 2030. Housing conditions in sub-Saharan Africa have improved, but 47% of urban Africans still live in slums, according to a 2015 study by Dr. Lucy Tusting. Adding a new housing option to the market combining prefabricated and local build elements. This new system would allow a large customer base to afford high-quality, safe, affordable houses.

11.2. Bamboo as a sustainable and green construction material

According to the World Green Building Council, the building and construction industry is responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions. To combat climate change, there needs to be a significant shift in this sector. Bamboo, a type of grass with a lifespan of 100 years that can be harvested every three years, offers a sustainable solution for rebuilding forests damaged by over-logging and slash-and-burn agriculture. It's also a renewable source of income and building materials. Bamboo Botanicals reports that Bamboo can absorb greenhouse gases and produce oxygen at a rate 30% higher than trees of the same size. Developing the bamboo farming and construction industries could mitigate climate change while providing farmers with a sustainable income source. The bamboo plant requires low maintenance, is easily harvested every three years, and proliferates. We aim to propose an affordable housing option with a negative carbon footprint.

SDG 12  

Bamboo has been studied extensively for its use in construction, traditional building techniques, agricultural value, and economic benefits. However, more research needs to be done on the manufacturing process of industrialized Bamboo. Understanding the value chain and life cycle of engineered bamboo building materials in urban settings is crucial, including planning and spatial requirements of agroforestry and industry, harvesting, transportation, small and medium-scale manufacturing, distribution, and construction. Additionally, using digital design and manufacturing technology to optimize and facilitate the use of Bamboo construction material requires further investigation. Our proposal aims to address this knowledge gap.

We plan to do quantitative and qualitative measuring techniques in addition to the life cycle assessment.

• • SDG 3 
    • Qualitative metrics
  • SDG 8  
    • Qualitative & Quantitative metrics
  • SDG 9 
    • Qualitative metrics
  • SDG 11  
    • Lifecycle assessment
    • Quantitative metrics
  • SDG 12 Pattern 
    • Lifecycle assessment

We use individual culm data and computation to create a reliable structural assembly for our Mass Bamboo building system. This involves organizing lightly modified bamboo culms. This includes:

1. A description of the various panel prototypes produced so far, including preliminary qualitative observations regarding their structural capacities;
2. A description of how these components will be aggregated together in the context of building construction, including strategies for joining panels;
3. How IOT sensing can be used together with computation to optimize the use of an available bamboo stock toward the structural needs of a building; and
4. Necessary critical path research toward realizing a Smart Bamboo complete building system, such as fire barriers, insulation, adhesives, finishes, additional structural testing, etc.

• At our research center, we focus on understanding bamboo to its core. Our efforts involve mechanical testing to evaluate its structural performance and delving into its biological nuances to drive design decisions. We leverage scanning technology, computation, and machine learning to catalog the material's variable characteristics to achieve this. This way, we can integrate them intelligently into high-performance systems. However, bamboo's irregularity poses challenges for simple machining operations, so we've experimented with various strategies, from simple ripping and chopping techniques to more advanced digital machining. As a result, our team has developed a reliable work-holding solution and machine settings. We've also designed a custom 4-axis CNC specifically intended to offer a low-cost and open-source option for digital fabrication with this incredible material.

We have tested and experimented with the Mass Bamboo system since 2018 with positive results and shared our work for peer review publications, filed a provisional patent, and delivered numerous invited keynotes at different conferences and exhibitions. Here are some of our publications:

1. "Structural Performance of Faced Calcutta Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) for Use in Joined Structural Assemblies, Fourth International Sustainable Buildings Symposium, Dallas, Texas,

Authored by;  Hauptman, MacDonald, Schumann, Hindman, Hammett; Published in 2019

2. "Smart Bamboo Systems: Combining Material Intelligence with Modern  Manufacturing" International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies.

Authored by;  Hauptman, Hindman, Hack, Marggraf; Published on 2022

3. Lightly Modifying Thick-Walled Timber Bamboo: An Overview, Bamboo Science and Technology Book. Chapter,  Springer-Nature,

ISBN: 978-981-99-0231-6  edited by; F.L. Palombini & F.M. Nogueira, 

Authored by; Hauptman, Haghnazar, Marggraf, Ashjazadeh; Published on 2022

4. Exhibit at the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture CITY-X Italian Pavilion   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QrjJJAQze4

Authored by;  Hauptman,  Hack, Zesk, Saghafi; Published on 2021 

Our team members are from politically, intellectually, socially, and economically and diverse nationalities and backgrounds. We also have a neurodivergent PI with multiple learning disabilities and team members from Iran, Europe, and, most importantly, Africa. Furthermore, we also have two women in critical roles.

• To start the first prototypes and experiment, we plan to collaborate or get grants from NGOs or governmental entities. By doing this we will lay the ground to partner countries (Ethiopia and Ghana) to establish the pilot office for the further stage of our plan which is a B2B model that will allow us to do a consultancy and also collaborate with business partners who want use our products and build some development. We want to serve as a center of excellence for numerous research and testing programs as well as training courses that engage other institutions and professionals to further propel Bamboo-based technology and other alternative building technologies.
• Our long-term plan is to change our business model to B2C and charitable company. We want to build small/medium factories in partner countries to produce mass-building components that offer cost-effective, standard housing to those who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

We will continue to seek national and International funding and eventually plan to use a combination of partnering as a stakeholder or consulting fees to support ongoing business development alongside our research lab.

• Although we have only raised modest funding to support our research the area of bamboo research in the United States is not popular. It is underfunded because the impact is more Global than local. Considering the nature of our laboratory research we have been very well funded both through University grants and external ones. Also as mentioned earlier our research supported the development of an x prize proposal which was funded for a quarter of a million dollars in 2021.
• BDRG has been funded by the American Institute of Architects, the Architecture League of New York, the United States Department of Agriculture, The Center for Crafts & The Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity Art and Technology and has participated in the award-winning Carbon X Prize team. In total, the lab’s research has won $570,000 of competitively awarded prizes and support.