Commemorating World Bamboo Day on September 18, the Bamboo Society of India (BSI), Karnataka Chapter WC- Architecture, Design and Civil Engineering (WC-ADCE, BSI) and World Bamboo Organisation (WBO), in association with media and telecast partner SURFACES REPORTER hosted a wide virtual event by bringing together notable Indian advocators of bamboo under one roof to converse on the Bamboo Cultural Fest: Rethinking Bamboo in Culture through Design.
Celebrating bamboo
BSI-KC in association with World Bamboo Organisation, CGBMT in association with the Council of Architecture along with IIID Bangalore Chapter, IIA Karnataka Chapter and ISOLA, Karnataka Chapter, the full-day event recognized, felicitated and encouraged budding design professionals and students who have incorporated bamboo as a building material in their projects.
Aiming to showcase young talent representing organic innovations and characteristics of bamboo, BSI-KC held three Designing with Bamboo Competitions:
1. Product Design Competition in association with IIID Bangalore Chapter
JURY:
- Sandeep Sangaru (Founder and Director, Sangaru Design Studio)
- Sushanth CS (Senior Designer, NID Head, Centre for Bamboo Initiatives)
- Ar Elayraj Mayavan (Principal Architect, MYVN Architecture)
2. Street Furniture Design Competition in collaboration with ISOLA- Karnataka Chapter
JURY:
- Ar Sathya Prakash V (Principal Architect, Sathya Consultants, Bangalore)
- Ar Neelam Manjunath (Founder and CEO, CGBMT, Bangalore)
- Ar Sujata HIngorani (Principal Landscape Architect, Oasis Designs Inc)
3 .Prefab Structures Competition in collaboration with IIA Karnataka Chapter
JURY:
- Ar Markus Roselelb (Principal, Chiangmai Life Architects, Thailand)
- Dr Jagadish Vengala (Assoc Professor, PVPS Inst of Tech, Vijayawada)
- Ar Siddharth Majumdar (Assoc Director, ARCOP Associates Pvt Ltd, Delhi)
- Avery Chua (CEO and President, Dasso, USA World Bamboo Ambassador)
Bamboo for the win
The competition received an overwhelming response of bountiful entries across India. It provided a unique opportunity for designers to participate in a challenging architectural design competition to explore their creative skills in rethinking spaces and using bamboo as a building material in the age of pandemic. Moving a step ahead, the competition promoted designs that are sustainably inspiring and artistically communicated to the masses.
The grand jury moderated the entries across the categories at various stages keeping in mind concept innovation, site selection, spatial design and the receptiveness to its physical, emotional and cultural needs before selecting the final winners, thereby showcasing and promoting the best designs and architecture in bamboo.
Of the entries received in Street Furniture category:
- Arvind S bagged first place with The Solace (SF-48)
- Prasidh Kumar’s The Promenade (SF-54) stood second
- Fathima Shahala (SF-66) won third place
- Fourth place by Sreerag P (SF-57)
- Fifth place by Nayan Shankar Pawar (SF-60)
In the Prefab Structure competition:
- Cheekoti Vivek’s Apla Ghar Orphanage (PF-26) won first place
- Akash Deep’s Quatrefoil (PF-35) won second place
- Nebin Ashara’s The Blue Polygons (PF-23) won third place
- Ar Shubhan Jaiswal’s Bamboo Cottage (PF-18) won fourth place
As for the Product Design category:
- The bamboo shoe rack by Sayak Das (PD-31) bagged the first place
- Sharvaree Naren’s bamboo brick stood second (PD-21)
- Vanchan Ballal’s Dehydroo (PD-28) won third place
- Sambodhi Ramtee’s sanitiser machine (PD-33) bagged the fourth place
The complete co-ordination of the event had been done by CGBMT, Centre for Green Building Materials and Technology. Ar Sagar Jayaram, Competition Co-ordinator at CGBMT did an excellent job and was awarded a special commendation during the award ceremony for his work.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
The seven-hour long virtual session held in association with Surfaces Reporter received an overwhelming response. Inaugurating the session, was Chief Guest Mr Shankargauda Patil, Special Representative to Delhi, Govt of Karnataka, who briefed the audiences about the various developments happening in the bamboo sector as well about the initiatives and ways in which the government is promoting the sector.
WHAT THE JURY SAID:
Taking forward the event, Ar Neelam Manjunath, Chairperson BSI, KC and World Bamboo Ambassador briefed the viewers on the journey of BSI which is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. “We started three design competitions to serve the purpose of promoting bamboo. The competition witnessed 178 entries including professionals, bamboo enthusiast and students from across the country,” she added.
Explaining the criteria of selection, Ar Sathya Prakash V, Principal Architect, Sathya Consultants, Bengaluru said, “We got to see some very interesting vision, and we did have some criteria to help in making an objective judgment. We focused on concept design and detail. Another important accept that we looked at was innovation.”
As for Ar Siddharth Majumdar, Assoc Director, ARCOP Associates Pvt Ltd, Delhi, the competition was a learning experience for him. “It has been a fantastic learning experience for me. I am amazed to see this kind of production that these youngsters are doing today. It’s quite promising, and I think bamboo deserves to be promoted with a lot of scope,” he added.
Furthermore, Dr Jagadish Vengala, Assoc Professor, PVPS Inst of Tech, Vijayawada highlighted the importance of bamboo during the event.
On similar lines, Prof Jaisim Krishna Rao, Executive Director, BSI-KC advocated the characteristic of the material, “Bamboo as a material should integrate art, technology and the future timelessness.”
Of the copious entries, Surfaces Reporter presents to you the winners of Bamboo Cultural Fest 2021.
STREET FURNITURE DESIGN COMPETITION IN COLLABORATION WITH ISOLA- KARNATAKA CHAPTER
Objects installed along streets and roads such as benches, traffic barriers, bollards, post boxes, street lamps, traffic lights, traffic signs, bus stops, public lavatories, fountains, memorials, public sculptures, among others sufficed the street furniture category. The participants were required to be innovative and creative with a sustainable edge (using bamboo efficiently) in creating furniture that would reflect the public needs and culture, pedestrian mobility and road safety, thereby upgrading the existing scene of the chosen site.
Of the entries, Arvind S bagged the first place with The Solace (SF-48), followed by Prasidh Kumar’s The Promenade (SF-54), Fathima Shahala (SF-66), Sreerag P (SF-57) and Nayan Shankar Pawar (SF-60).
The Solace | Arvind S
The Solace, which had been proposed to be constructed on the popular eat street of Vijaywada, doubles as a seating shelter by the day for the pedestrians and as a dining area by night. Designed with rotational benches, lights, planters and a dustbin, the Solace is an amalgamation of form and functionality.
The Promenade | Prasidh Kumar
The Promenade proposes to merge the spatial qualities of a shell. Its interlocking system and bamboo ropes assure the strength and sturdiness of the proposed structure. Encompassing an acupressure path made from beach shells, an animal feeder and bamboo mats highlights the proposed Promenade on the golden beach of Puri.
Seating design by Fathima Shahala
Easing the market lane of Yashwanthpur in Bengaluru, the proposed seating design has been created keeping in mind the current social and cultural scenario. The furniture design – composed of bamboo rooftop and angklung panel – allows people to gather and interact while maintaining social distance.
Bamboo Balance | Sreerag P
Drawing inspiration from the yin and yang, the Bamboo Balance is designed in an S-curved module comprising weaved bamboo seating and resin coated bamboo mat roof. Proposed to be constructed in the Buddha Smriti Park, each seating of the design offers a different form and texture.
Bamboo bus stop | Nayan Shankar Pawar
Curved bamboo roof, inbuilt seating, bamboo green wall to curb pollutants, smart kiosks and fire extinguisher form the elements of the proposed bamboo bus stop in Balewadi.
PREFAB STRUCTURES COMPETITION IN COLLABORATION WITH IIA KARNATAKA CHAPTER
The participating designers were expected to design and create a prefab structure as a unit to be placed in any urban context. The challenge was to design a multi-purpose, prefabricated bamboo structure that can be dismantled and shifted to a different location if necessary. The proposed structure is required to reflect the client’s needs, community culture and aesthetic appeal expanding up to 400 sqft. Cheekoti Vivek’s Apla Ghar Orphanage (PF-26) won first place in the Prefab Structure competition followed by Akash Deep’s Quatrefoil (PF-35), Nebin Ashara’s The Blue Polygons (PF-23) and Ar Shubhan Jaiswal’s Bamboo Cottage (PF-18).
Apla Ghar Orphanage | Cheekoti Vivek
Proposed to be located amid nature, the structure of the orphanage aims to act as two modules that can be dismantled and taken to other sites with the help of scissors joinery.
Quatrefoil | Akash Deep
The four cloverleaf structure of the Quatrefoil represents faith, hope, love and luck. Designed out of a full bamboo which is split into strips to make the bamboo laths and splits, the modular pockets of the proposed structure are easy to assemble and dismantle. On account of its high elasticity, the prefab structure can be widely used in earthquake-prone areas
The Blue Polygons | Nebin Ashara
Designed for low-income groups, the Blue Polygons offer the practicality of design, affordability and mobility. Encouraging community living and sharing, the housing prototype is successful with respect to climate zones.
Bamboo Cottage | Ar Shubhan Jaiswal
The traditionally-styled proposed tourist cottage is cyclone-resistant, light in weight, easy to assemble and spreads over 360 sqft. Its zig-zag planning avoids the wind tunnel effect by breaking the wind while the corresponding opening on the leeward/opposite side reduces the suction pressure.
PRODUCT DESIGN COMPETITION IN ASSOCIATION WITH IIID BANGALORE CHAPTER
The competition aimed to design a product in bamboo that would reflect its cultural integration in our lives. Bamboo shoe rack by Sayak Das (PD-31) bagged the first place, while Sharvaree Naren’s bamboo brick stood second (PD-21), followed by Vanchan Ballal’s Dehydroo (PD-28) and Sambodhi Ramtee’s sanitiser machine (PD-33).
Bamboo shoe rack | Sayak Das
Drawing inspiration from the traditional shoe rack, the bamboo shoe rack is designed in a triangular prism. With a holding capacity of six pairs of footwear, the shoe rack keeps the footwear from touching the ground.
Bamboo brick | Sharvaree Naren
Available in a variation of materials such as cow dung, lime, gypsum and red soil, the bamboo bricks draw the properties of cost-effectiveness, mortar, strength, sustainability, moisture preserving and sound-absorbing.
Dehydroo | Vanchan Ballal
The bamboo solar conduction dryer can be used for food storage. Made from recycled and sustainable material, it comes with a bamboo mat dryer and reclaimed window panels.
Sanitiser machine | Sambodhi Ramtee
Comprising of an LDR sensor, the bamboo sanitiser machine comes with a mini pump and is designed according to the anthropometric study of humans.