Bamboo Chitchat with Ajahn Decha

Who’s Ajahn Decha Tiangkate? He is the man in the wide brimmed straw hat who is the Thai expert on bamboo.

He works with Chiangmai Life Construction (CLC) on the Panyaden School building project.

Markus Roselieb (owner of CLC) and everyone else on the site call him the ‘Bamboo Boss’ since he is in charge of the local bamboo craftsmen and workers on the site and because he knows a lot about bamboo in Thailand.

“I was born in the centre of Thailand, Rachaburi, in a Thai-Yuan (tribal) Village whose people originally relocated from Lanna (the north part of Thailand) 200 years ago. So I used to live close to nature and I just love it that way. I’ve grown up around bamboo buildings which were obviously the main structures in the village centre at that time.”

He regales me with stories of how bamboo was once used in traditional Thai villages. For example, villagers used bamboo to cut the umbilical cord after a baby was born. The bamboo must first be dried on a grill because it is stronger when it has been dried.

Bamboo is abundant in Thailand especially in the north. It is used for food, medicine, to make furniture, jewelry and clothes, musical instruments (remember the famous bamboo saxophone of Chiang Mai?) and bridges. So why is it not used more often to build houses and schools?

“Thai people still think that bamboo is a material for the poor in the countryside. If someone builds his own house with concrete, it represents wealth. Therefore, if someone builds his house with bamboo, people sadly think he’s poor.”

All around the world, bamboo has often been called ‘the poor man’s timber’ because of its affordable price and easy abundance. Concrete, a product of modern industrialization is more expensive and is thus seen as a status symbol for those who can afford it.

Conversely, bamboo has also been called ‘the wonder plant’. It is easy to cultivate and harvest. It is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It is lighter in density than that of a bird but is as strong as steel. A piece of bamboo typically has a tensile strength of 28,000 per square inch vs. 23,000 for steel.

According to UNESCO, 70 hectares of bamboo produce enough material to build 1,000 houses. Imagine that! There is then no compelling need to cut down trees from rapidly diminishing forests (bamboo is harder than teak). We can also reduce our dependence on concrete and other building materials that require high energy to produce and high transportation costs.

After more than 10 years of working with bamboo, the ‘Bamboo Boss’ says he is still learning something new every day.

“I’ve worked with the architect, Olav (Bruin), on the Koh Kood project (Six Senses’ resort off the south-east coast of the Gulf of Siam) who used bamboo to construct a children’s den. The first time I saw the project, I thought it’s impossible to use bamboo on a mega-structure because we Thais do not believe that bamboo has the capability to carry a mega-structure or can be bent to create a curve, which can then be joined with bamboo itself.”

That same lesson has now been applied on an even bigger scale to the salas of Panyaden School. Where does he find the bamboo?

“Firstly, we have to do a survey, where is a good resource to get the bamboo which we can use, especially if it’s reasonable cost wise? Mostly, we get the bamboo from the North, where its geography is hilly, their quality is very good and when they are dried out, they’re stable and do not shrink. However, it depends on their age as well. It is best to use bamboo when they are mature between 3 to 5 years old.”

After the right bamboo has been selected for the right job (eg. the strong ‘pai tong’ is used for structural columns and beams), it has to be treated before it can be used for construction (see “The Bamboo Treatment Process” on the blog, 9 July).

Ajahn Decha thinks it will take time to educate people about the uses of bamboo, its durability, its beauty and flexibility. Take a look at the photos (by Ally Taylor) on this blog that show the amazing ways in which bamboo, stone and earth are used to create captivating roofs and buildings for Panyaden School. These are the results of an international collaboration between CLC, Ajahn Decha, Olav Bruin and 24h Architect, Mark Emery, and Hanno Burtscher. And lets not forget the 108 skilled foremen and craftsmen who work each day to make the designs a reality.