{"id":342730,"date":"2025-12-30T11:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/342730\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T11:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:43:10","slug":"blue-temple-creates-earthquake-proof-bamboo-housing-in-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/342730\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Temple creates earthquake-proof bamboo housing in Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Myanmar-based architecture studio Blue Temple has teamed up with construction company Housing Now to build a series of low-cost bamboo<\/a> homes capable of withstanding natural disasters.<\/p>\n

Located in Myanmar’s Bago region, the homes are built from a modular, earthquake-resistant structure that, according to the studios, can each be built in just seven days for “the price of a smartphone”.<\/p>\n

The project, named Housing Now Modular Bamboo Housing, was established to create low-cost housing<\/a> for displaced families and public infrastructure in the country.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorBlue Temple and Housing Now have built a series of modular bamboo homes<\/p>\n

Blue Temple<\/a> and Housing Now<\/a> designed the 26 seismic-resistant homes to be a solution for surviving conflict and natural disasters.<\/p>\n

Since being built, the homes, which cost around 1,000 US dollars per unit, have survived a 7.7 magnitude earthquake.<\/p>\n

“In a region marked by conflict and extreme environmental stress, Housing Now Modular Bamboo Housing has shown that safe, dignified housing can be built for as little as the price of a smartphone,” Blue Temple said.<\/p>\n

“Our focus is on making high-performance architecture accessible under extreme constraints \u2013 using local materials, local labour, and prefabrication methods that can survive conflict and natural disasters,” Blue Temple founder Rapha\u00ebl Ascoli told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

\"HomeThe homes were designed to be resistant to conflict and natural disasters<\/p>\n

The homes, which were assembled in collaboration with the families, are constructed of prefabricated frames designed to carry all seismic loads.<\/p>\n

These structures are composed of interlocking arched bamboo elements made from “small-diameter” bundled bamboo, which is widely available in the country and has a timber-grade strength, according to Ascoli.<\/p>\n

\"BambooInterlocking bamboo elements compose the structural frames<\/p>\n

“In Myanmar, bamboo is the cheapest construction material, and small-diameter species are the most abundant,” Ascoli said.<\/p>\n

“By bundling, overlapping, and strapping them through a jig-guided system, we achieve timber-grade strength with a fraction of the cost and a fully local supply chain,” he explained.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Myanmar<\/p>\n

Heritage sites among landmarks damaged in Myanmar earthquake\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Each of the homes is held within matching volumes raised on concrete plinths and sheltered by sloping roofs with overhanging eaves. Large operable windows blend into their textured facades.<\/p>\n

Rising from ground level, concrete and wooden steps lead up to their entrances.<\/p>\n

Inside, non-structural panels and partitions allow residents to create personalised internal layouts without compromising the home’s seismic resistance.<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenInternal layouts can be personalised<\/p>\n

Blue Temple’s structural approach means that the homes’ aesthetics are a result of the building geometry rather than stylistic intention, Ascoli explains.<\/p>\n

“The aesthetics are the direct result of field-engineered geometry \u2013 clarity through necessity, not styling,” he said.<\/p>\n

The wider goal for the Housing Now Modular Bamboo Housing project, Ascoli explains, is to establish construction methods for “safe, fast, low-cost builds” so that “others can copy them”.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Abari designed a Buddhist meditation hall in Nepal crowned with a Mandala-shaped bamboo truss<\/a> and Jonathon Mizzi co-designed a bamboo learning centre with students in Indonesia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Aung Htay Hlaing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Myanmar-based architecture studio Blue Temple has teamed up with construction company Housing Now to build a series of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,102334,1120,96,4658,132922,99228,40339,40340,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-342730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-bamboo","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-housing","tag-low-cost-housing","tag-modular-architecture","tag-sectionall","tag-sectionarchitecture","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}