In Bali, Indonesia, architecture company Ibuku specializes in intricate, large-scale bamboo 'buildings'. Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects has used bamboo for many of its projects, including the Casamia Community House in the Casamia Resort in Hoi An, while Shenzhen-based Zuo Studio created bamboo pavilions for the Taichung Flora Exposition in Taiwan. This has prompted a search for more eco-friendly alternatives.Ĭubo isn't the only company to see the potential of bamboo as a strong, sustainable building material. The use of materials like steel and concrete are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, while the extraction of raw resources including stone, rock and gravel degrades landscapes and soils. The construction industry has been heavily criticized in recent years for its environmental impact. "They realized that it's an intuitive evolution for our local bamboo houses."
"Filipinos warmly welcomed the product, because it's very familiar," he says. The company is currently producing six houses per month, but Forlales says demand is much higher and he's hoping to increase supply. Each house is made to order and can be customized to include elements such as solar panels on the roof, further reducing the running costs and the carbon footprint of its residents. Cubo's houses survived unscathed.Ĭubo offers four different models, sleeping up to six residents. The company's first project was tested very quickly - in December 2020, just days after the first two homes were constructed, the region was hit by a magnitude six earthquake. Forlales says the company is "exploring alternative foundation systems to further make our offering more sustainable" but this is still in the research stage. While this gives the structures a solid base, concrete contributes to climate change. Metal "typhoon ties" are used as connectors between the walls, roof and floor panels, and the homes are further reinforced with poured concrete foundations, which replace the traditional stilts. The Philippines is prone to earthquakes and typhoons, so the homes have been designed with natural disasters in mind. He hopes that Cubo's modular designs and use of bamboo can "help accelerate sustainable building" while also providing affordable housing solutions for the Philippines' housing crisis.Ĭubo's bamboo homes incorporate many aspects of the traditional "Bahay Kubo" including a raised foundation and louvers, a type of window blind that allows natural ventilation and light.īut Cubo has given the bamboo hut a 21st-century upgrade, including modern light fittings and impact-proof polycarbonate windows. The structures can be assembled in just a few days and are predicted to last up to 50 years, says Forlales. The company launched production of its prefabricated homes in November 2020.
Realizing the Bahay Kubo could be adapted to create a contemporary home, Forlales began designing his own bamboo houses.Īfter winning the "Cities for our Future" challenge run by the UK's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2018, the materials engineering graduate turned his idea into a company, co-founding Cubo in 2019. When treated and engineered, it can last for decades. Strong and flexible, bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world: while soft and hard woods can take between 40 and 150 years to mature, bamboo is ready to harvest in as little as three years. "Filipinos have been using bamboo (for housing) even before colonial times, for thousands of years," he says. His grandparents, like generations of Filipinos, lived in a "Bahay Kubo" - a traditional, boxy, single-story bamboo hut on stilts, indigenous to the Philippines. (CNN) - Searching for new ways to build sustainable homes, Earl Forlales decided to look not into the future, but to the past.
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