PRE-FABRICATED CONNECTORS USED IN BAMBOO FRAMES FOR TIMELY-EFFICIENT CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

Bamboo has become the choice of materials in sustainable architecture, due to its renewability and great mechanical properties. Bamboo architecture has very unique character of its craftsmanship. The challenge of bamboo construction is the connectivity, or to put structural members together. This can be done beautifully, but time-consuming. This research introduces the pre-fabrication as an innovative process to do connectivity more efficiently, especially construction time. The research is the design experiment to design steel connectors, prototype frames that are utilized by connectors, and architectural assembles that are composed by those frames and with many different designs. The outcome productions will be steel connectors, typical frames, and series of building formations. One selected frame is selected to perform real construction to document construction time. Two methods are delivered to provide the comparison, pre-fabrication and conventional systems. Construction time to assemble architecture will be simulated and compared between two systems. The result shows that pre-fabrication using steel connectors can reduce overall construction by 62% because it offers working tasks in parallels. Moreover, workers can become familiar with repetitive tasks to build architecture, so construction time becomes less. While conventional system still has to deal with crafting bamboo and concrete pouring and curing, so construction time is more extensive. The research confirms that prefabricated connectors can reduce construction time in bamboo architecture, moreover they can create interesting and flexible designs and offer easy maintenance. The more uses of bamboo as an architectural material, they can greatly support the creation of future sustainable architecture.