EcoHouse Research

Simón Velez

 

On the 26th May, renowned Colombian architect Simón Vélez honoured the University of Cambridge by his visit to the Department of Architecture. Vélez hosted a workshop to show interested students and guests how to form bamboo joints using his mortar-filled joinery system. Here the same species of bamboo was used as in Vélez’s constructions, namely Guadua (angustifolia) bamboo.

The bamboo was cut into different shapes to make four kinds of joints: corner-, T-, point- and extension -joint.

Through-holes were drilled into the bamboo segments to insert re-bars. These re-bars will absorb most of the stress moments and allow the bamboo structure to sustain high stress impacts as occur during earthquakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larger holes were drilled into the bamboo to insert the mortar into the joint segments. The mortar was mixed with the optimal quantity of water based on Vélez’s construction experience. The bamboo pieces were then duck-taped together to maintain their position as they were filled with mortar and left to cure for one week. Once the mortar is cured, the tape can be removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simón Vélez’s belief is that traditional joints are unreliable for permanent structures as the bamboo tends to shrink with time making the string joinery slack and unsecure. His joinery system, therefore, relies on bolts and mortar-fillings maintaining their shape over time.