BLOOMING BAMBOO HOUSe

Vietnam is heavily affected by natural disasters and other impacts of climate change, causing extensive damage to property and displacement of residents each year. The Blooming Bamboo Home, also referred to as the Bb home, was developed by Vietnamese firm H&P Architects to improve the resilience of vulnerable communities in Vietnam.

The project proposed an amphibious living module that can be constructed from locally available materials by residents. The module was inexpensive, and able to be erected in just 25 days. The module can be customized to meet the users needs and better adapt to the specific site where it is constructed.

The concept design had 2 different module types, one for large families and the other for smaller families. Both had similiar layouts: the lower level had bedrooms, indoor and outdoor terraces, and a washroom with a holding tank to allow it to continue functioning when the building was floating. A flexible, partially enclosed space on the second floor provides additional living space, and also functions as an emergency exit. Planters on the exterior of the building can be used as a vertical garden.

The house is elevated on short stilts, but was intended to be amphibiated to allow it to withstand floods of up to three meters. Recycled oil drums were intended to be used as floatation, while vertical steel piles held the floating structure in place. One instance of the smaller type was constructed in 2013, but the amphibious system was never finished and tested.