In Pakistan, floods and landslides from torrential rains since June have destroyed houses, sometimes sweeping away large buildings in raging water. In one of the hardest-hit districts, Sindh, officials are now asking for 1 million tents for displaced people. But there aren’t enough tents available, and tents also aren’t durable. One nonprofit is helping residents build low-cost emergency shelters out of local bamboo instead.
“The beauty of it is that it’s low-tech,” says architect Yasmeen Lari, cofounder of the nonprofit the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan. The shelters are simple to build, low cost, and zero carbon. They also can be disassembled and moved, and the same basic materials can be used to make more permanent structures.
Lari, who is now in her 80s, was the first female architect in Pakistan, and spent most of her career working on sleek glass-and-steel buildings like the headquarters for the government-owned oil company. She retired in 2000. But after a catastrophic earthquake in 2005, she started to help with rebuilding, turning to local materials and techniques that people could use themselves rather than waiting for aid.
While working at a camp for displaced people, she began experimenting with bamboo. “You could not find other materials,” she says. “Everything was taking too much time [to source], like bricks. . . . You could find bamboo. And I said, ‘Okay, let’s give it a try.'” Bamboo was cheap, easily accessible in the area, and very strong. She started...
Read Full Story: https://www.fastcompany.com/90783342/amid-pakistans-extreme-flooding-these-low-cost-bamboo-shelters-could-provide-relief
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.