house, woven, split bamboo reinforced the concrete (3% bamboo to concrete), and larger vertical bamboo was used as wall reinforcement. Smaller vertical bamboo served as electrical conduit within the wall. The Mullans hope to take their building methodology to Mexico and Nicaragua this fall. They have detailed the steps of their building process in an excellent booklet, A Low-Cost Earthquake-Resistant House, which is available for $2 plus a self-addressed stamped envelope from: Jane and Otis Mullan, Solar Song Construction/Mullein Press, Box 533, Colfax, CA 95713. Two friends of the Mullans, Barbara and Ken Kern, are also involved in bamboo building experimentation. The Kerns describe their building process for the clay- bamboo roof of their studio in The Earth Sheltered Owner- Built Home, which they co-authored with the Mullans: "As soon as the structural layer of clay roofing has been cast over the bamboo framework, an insulating layer of clay is applied over the first.... A final 2-inch-thick structural capping that is the same as the first batch is then applied over this insulating layer of clay for a total panel thickness of 9 inches at the edges. This capping layer spans over the top of the roof beam, covering the second layer of bamboo that is wired to the first layer." This information-packed book is available for $9.95 plus postage from Owner-Builder Publications, Box 817, North Fork, CA 93643. (Ken Kern has recently told RAIN that he is working on a new book entitled A House of Clay. Ken writes, "1 don't think you can talk about bamboo as a construction material without also talking about clay. They go together, like concrete and reinforcing steel. My current building prototype consists of cast-in-place concrete arches over which an armature of bamboo is fastened and then plastered with stabilized clay.") If 1 have stimulated your interest in the uses of bamboo, hang on. The Book of Bamboo by David Farrelly promises to be the most comprehensive survey of the uses of bamboo I know of in the English language. Farrelly will deal with bamboo in art, music, and philosophy as well as in shelter construction—past, present, and future. He will also cover plant behavior, variety of species, cultivation, harvesting, and curing. Sierra Club Books (2034 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115) plans to release the book in October 1984. □ □ In addition to being involved with bamboo and appropriate technologies/lifestyles, Mary Vogel is a teacher/writer on “investing for a sustainablefuture" and a dealer for earth- sheltered dome housing. She lives in Eugene, Oregon. September/October 1984 RAIN Page 13 Pylon bridge built from bamboo (FROM: Bamboo in Building Construction)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz