{"id":248394,"date":"2025-10-29T09:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/248394\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:51:17","slug":"modular-bamboo-houses-by-blue-temple-stand-firm-after-7-7-earthquake-in-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/248394\/","title":{"rendered":"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Temple\u2019s bamboo housing survives Mandalay earthquake<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the heart of Mandalay, Myanmar, a cluster of 26 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/bamboo-architecture\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">bamboo<\/a> houses designed by Yangon-based studio Blue Temple has become an unexpected emblem of resilience. When a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar in March 2025, leveling much of the region, the lightweight Housing NOW units, built for families displaced by conflict, stood firm. Not a single home collapsed. What began as an experimental effort to provide dignified, low-cost shelter in one of the world\u2019s most fragile contexts has now proven itself as a field-tested, earthquake-resistant housing system.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1161435 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar\" width=\"818\" height=\"545\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/modular-bamboo-houses-blue-temple-earthquake-myanmar-housing-now-designboom-00.gif\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>all images by Aung Htay Hlaing and Rapha\u00ebl Ascoli<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Housing NOW\u2019s units are built alongside their tenants<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Each modular home by Blue Temple can be assembled in under a week using a bundled small-diameter bamboo system. The technique transforms an overlooked, abundantly available material into a structurally interlocking frame that absorbs seismic shocks. Families participate in the assembly alongside the technical team of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blue-temple.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the Yangon-based practice<\/a>, learning construction techniques that strengthen community resilience while reducing dependency on external aid.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The earthquake became the ultimate proof of concept for Housing NOW, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.housing-now.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">socially driven construction project<\/a> that has been developing quietly since 2019 across conflict-affected regions of Myanmar. In total, 79 units have been built to date, with 500 printed DIY Bamboo Manuals distributed nationwide to empower communities to construct safe homes with local tools and materials. The initiative also experiments with cash-for-shelter upgrades, providing technical advice to improve existing self-built homes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1161436 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar\" width=\"818\" height=\"545\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/modular-bamboo-houses-blue-temple-earthquake-myanmar-housing-now-designboom-01.gif\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>the resistant cluster of 26 bamboo houses designed by studio Blue Temple<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1161437 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar\" width=\"818\" height=\"545\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/modular-bamboo-houses-blue-temple-earthquake-myanmar-housing-now-designboom-02.gif\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>the lightweight Housing NOW units are built from bamboo<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1161438 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar\" width=\"818\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/modular-bamboo-houses-blue-temple-earthquake-myanmar-housing-now-designboom-03.gif\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>families participate in the assembly alongside Blue Temple\u2019s technical team<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1161439 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar\" width=\"818\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/modular-bamboo-houses-blue-temple-earthquake-myanmar-housing-now-designboom-04.gif\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>the housing units are built for families displaced by conflict<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1161440 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"modular bamboo houses by blue temple stand firm after 7.7 earthquake in myanmar\" width=\"818\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/modular-bamboo-houses-blue-temple-earthquake-myanmar-housing-now-designboom-05.gif\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, the units stood firm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue Temple\u2019s bamboo housing survives Mandalay earthquake \u00a0 In the heart of Mandalay, Myanmar, a cluster of 26&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,31905,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-248394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-bamboo-architecture-and-design","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}