Bamboo Shelter Can Float on Oil Drums
Vernacular Vietnamese in terms of their materials and general appearance, these bamboo structures normally rest on the ground but hide a useful surprise – beneath their raised floors sit a series of old oil drums that will help lift the homes in times of flooding.
Designed by the local firm H&P Architects, the intention of this type of portable, low cost floating bamboo home is to address in a contextual and cost-efficient manner the perennial problem of regional flooding that plagues many parts of Southeast Asia.
They don’t always need to float, however, so the design can be adapted for different scenarios. As you can see with “Bb Home,” one example completed by the architects, the style is absolutely stunning.
Bamboo offers the structures a degree of flexibility if and when they are lifted off the ground during a disaster, while an anchor keeps them from floating away entirely. The windows and doors are also made to be walled off with relative ease in the face of a serious storm front.
Perhaps best of all, this is not a pie-in-the-sky concept that would be cost-prohibitive to deploy – its estimated price tag in terms of labor and materials is a mere $2,000, and both can also be locally sourced with regional techniques and parts.
“The users can build the house by themselves in 25 days. Besides, it can be mass produced with modules and the total cost of the house is only 2500$. Therefore, the house can warm people in the most severe conditions and help them control activities in the future, also remarkably contribute to ecological development as well as economic stabilization. This will give conditions for self-control process and create connection between vernacular culture and architecture. “