竹子在亚洲已经使用了数千年。现在，它可以用来解决建筑可持续性问题
Bamboo has been used for thousands of years in Asia. Now, it could help solve construction's sustainability problem       
       
由专筑网清珂，小R编译

为了寻找可持续房屋的新建造方法，Earl Forlales决定回溯过去，而非着眼未来。

和一代又一代的菲律宾人一样，他的祖父母住在“Bahay Kubo”里，这是一种传统方形的单层高跷竹屋，也是菲律宾的一种本土房屋。“在殖民时代之前，菲律宾人用竹子建造房屋已有数千年历史。”他介绍说。

Searching for new ways to build sustainable homes, Earl Forlales decided to look not into the future, but to the past.
His grandparents, like generations of Filipinos, lived in a "Bahay Kubo" -- a traditional, boxy, single-story bamboo hut on stilts, indigenous to the Philippines. "Filipinos have been using bamboo (for housing) even before colonial times, for thousands of years," he says.







竹子结实而柔韧，是世界上生长最快的植物，软木和硬木通常需要40至150年才能成熟，而竹子只需3年就可以收获。经过处理和加工，竹子的使用寿命可以持续几十年。Forlales意识到可以把Bahay Kubo改造成一个现代的住宅，由此他开始设计自己的竹屋。

Strong and flexible, bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world: while soft and hard woods can take between 40 and 150 years to mature, bamboo is ready to harvest in as little as three years. When treated and engineered, it can last for decades. Realizing the Bahay Kubo could be adapted to create a contemporary home, Forlales began designing his own bamboo houses.









在2018年赢得英国皇家特许测量师学会举办的“未来城市”挑战赛后，这位材料工程专业毕业生将自己的想法付诸于实践，在2019年创立了Cubo。

After winning the "Cities for our Future" challenge run by the UK's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2018, the materials engineering graduate turned his idea into a company, co-founding Cubo in 2019.









公司于2020年11月开始生产预制房屋。Forlales表示，这些结构可以在几天内组装完成，预计可以使用50年。他希望Cubo的模块化设计和竹子的使用能够“帮助加速可持续建筑”，同时为菲律宾的住房危机提供经济适用的住房解决方案。

The company launched production of its prefabricated homes in November 2020. The structures can be assembled in just a few days and are predicted to last up to 50 years, says Forlales. He hopes that Cubo's modular designs and use of bamboo can "help accelerate sustainable building" while also providing affordable housing solutions for the Philippines' housing crisis.


Cubo的房子面积从30到63平方米不等，最大的一间可容纳6人住宿。
Cubo's homes range from 30 to 63 square meters, the largest sleeping up to six people. Credit: CUBO Modular Inc

当代的立方体房屋

零废物“温室”——未来家庭的蓝图

Cube的竹屋包含了传统“Bahay Kubo”竹屋的许多要素，包括抬高的房基和百叶窗，可以让自然风和自然光进入。

不过Cubo也将竹屋进行了21世纪的改造升级，包括增加现代照明设备和防冲击的聚碳酸酯窗户。菲律宾多发地震和台风，因此房屋的设计考虑到了自然灾害。金属“台风纽带”连接墙壁、屋顶和地板，房屋地基用浇注混凝土进一步加固，取代了传统的高跷。虽然混凝土让建筑更加坚固，不过也对环境有影响。Forlales表示，公司正在探索其它地基方案，让产品更加有可持续性，目前方案还处在研究阶段。

公司的第一个项目推出后很快就经受了考验，2020年12月，就在两座房屋建成后几天，该地区遭受了里氏6级地震，Cubo的房子安然无恙。

A contemporary cube house
The zero-waste 'Greenhouse' is providing a blueprint for future homes
Cubo's bamboo homes incorporate many aspects of the traditional "Bahay Kubo" including a raised foundation and louvers, a type of window blind that allows natural ventilation and light.
But Cubo has given the bamboo hut a 21st-century upgrade, including modern light fittings and impact-proof polycarbonate windows. The Philippines is prone to earthquakes and typhoons, so the homes have been designed with natural disasters in mind. Metal "typhoon ties" are used as connectors between the walls, roof and floor panels, and the homes are further reinforced with poured concrete foundations, which replace the traditional stilts. While this gives the structures a solid base, concrete contributes to climate change. Forlales says the company is "exploring alternative foundation systems to further make our offering more sustainable" but this is still in the research stage.
The company's first project was tested very quickly — in December 2020, just days after the first two homes were constructed, the region was hit by a magnitude six earthquake. Cubo's houses survived unscathed.


利用所有可用空间，阁楼卧室和嵌壁家具使紧凑型住宅发挥最大作用。
Utilizing all available space, loft bedrooms and fitted furniture make the most of these compact homes. Credit: CUBO Modular Inc

竹子建筑热潮

近年来，建筑业不断因为对环境的影响遭受批评。钢筋和混凝土等材料的使用是温室气体排放的重要因素，而石材、岩石和砾石等原材料的开采则会破坏景观和土壤，这些都促使人们去寻找更环保的替代品。


竹子是未来的建筑材料吗？

Cubo并非唯一看到竹子作为建材所具备的优点和潜力的公司。越南Vo Trong Nghia Architects工作室在许多项目中都使用了竹子，包括海安Casamia度假区的Casamia社区住宅。深圳的Zuo工作室为台湾台中园艺博览会设计了竹构展馆。

在印度尼西亚巴厘岛，建筑公司Ibuku专门从事复杂的大型竹子建筑的设计建造。自2007年以来，Ibuku已经建造了60多个竹构建筑，包括绿色村庄、12栋豪华别墅组成的可持续社区、以及一个在自然中没有围墙的绿色学校。

虽然竹子用于建造小型建筑已有数千年，“但现在我们才有建造多层建筑的安全且天然的方案。目前我们的大多数项目都使用经过处理的天然竹子，随着竹子工程的进步，未来可能会出现用竹子建造的摩天大楼甚至整个城市。”Ibju创始人兼创意总监Elora Hardy表示。

Bamboo building boom
The construction industry has been heavily criticized in recent years for its environmental impact. The use of materials like steel and concrete are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, while the extraction of raw resources including stone, rock and gravel degrades landscapes and soils. This has prompted a search for more eco-friendly alternatives.

Is bamboo the building material of the future?
Cubo isn't the only company to see the potential of bamboo as a strong, sustainable building material. Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects has used bamboo for many of its projects, including the Casamia Community House in the Casamia Resort in Hoi An, while Shenzhen-based Zuo Studio created bamboo pavilions for the Taichung Flora Exposition in Taiwan.
In Bali, Indonesia, architecture company Ibuku specializes in intricate, large-scale bamboo 'buildings'. Since 2007, Ibuku has built over 60 bamboo structures, including the Green Village, a sustainable community of 12 luxury villas and the Green School, which has a wall-free campus set in nature.
While bamboo has been used to build small structures for thousands of years, "it's only now that we have safe, natural treatment solutions that we can consider building multi-story buildings," says Elora Hardy, founder and creative director of Ibuku. While most of her projects use treated bamboo in its natural form, she adds that with advances in engineered bamboo, there could be "skyscrapers and even whole cities that can be built out of bamboo" in the future.


Ibuku专业建造雕像别墅、酒店度假村和绿色学校。
Ibuku specializes in sculptural villas, hotel resorts, and "green" school campuses made from bamboo. Credit: Tommaso Riva/IBUKU

据南加州大学建筑系副教授、竹构建筑材料国际标准制订工作组成员Bhavna Sharma表示，工程竹材在二十世纪下半叶进入主流建筑业，工程竹材机械测试标准目前正在制订中，防火性能等领域还需要广泛研究。

Sharma说，竹子是一种坚固、生长快速且可再生的材料，可以持续作为硬木的补充，同时种植竹林还有助于恢复退化的土壤和土地。

Engineered bamboo entered mainstream construction in the late 20th century, according to Bhavna Sharma, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Southern California and a member of the task force developing international standards for bamboo construction materials."Standards for mechanical testing of engineered bamboo materials are currently being developed; however, areas such as fire performance require extensive study," says Sharma.
As a strong, fast-growing, and renewable material, bamboo could supplement sustainably harvested hardwoods, says Sharma, with the added benefit of bamboo plantations helping to restore degraded soil and land.


从外部结构到室内陈设，Ibuku展示了竹子在建筑和设计中的多种应用。
From the exterior structure to interior furnishings, Ibuku shows that bamboo can have varied applications in architecture and design. Credit: Indra Wiras/IBUKU