Prefabricated Bamboo House

Why should we concern our selves with building with bamboo in this age when we have so many excellent industrially produced building materials? But if we compare the ecological problems of our world and its limited resources with the need of ever growing population for building with bamboo is evidently justified.
Bamboo housing is probably as old as Stone Age. Bamboo could be cut and worked upon even with simple Stone tool, did not need shaping like other woods and could be tied with wires easily. Pre-fabrication which has emerged only recently in western architecture and is not possible using conventional building material, is inherent to Bamboo.

Project features:
Materials/Components selection strategy: Bamboo is the main building material
to reduce embodied energy used the doors, windows and lintels are of Honne wood which is a plantation timber? Decking is of laminated pine and chestnut which is locally available in Rome.
Special water Conserving installation: Rain water harvesting system used.
Natural Organic sewage treatment: Yes, Twin pits have been provided in place of septic tank.

Building Energy Features
Natural Ventilation: Window/ floor ratio > 40% -100% Naturally Ventilated.
Thermal insulation of Building envelope: Special walling system with sandwiched insulation for thermal Storage.
Solar systems: SPV and BIPV systems for total energy
requirement.
Day lighting: 100%

This was my first brush with a pre-fabricated Bamboo house (in the real sense) to be erected in a country like Rome where people know of Bamboo only as a finishing cane. Hence, I designed the house in such a way that each component could be manufactured independently and then assembled as a whole at site.
We pre-assembled the whole house at Bangalore. After labeling every member (even the joints, screws and J-bolts) we dismantled the structure, packed it up and shipped to Italy in the month of July 2003. It was erected on the site in 21 days.