In the West, many people are unaware of the potential of bamboo as a building material. On the contrary, in Asia, Latin America and Africa where bamboo grows in abundance, it is used to build houses, bridges, furniture, laminates and flooring as well as in certain medicines. Bamboo is an oversize grass. In Latin America, especially in Colombia, the Guadua Angustifolia, the kind of bamboo most suitable for construction, has allowed the architect Simon Velez to built daring architectural structures: villas in breathtaking places, warehouses, stables, bridges in countryside and towns as well as low cost low cost housing. Recognized as a remarkable architect thanks to his bamboo houses, Velez won international acclaim for having built the most significant bamboo structure in Europe at the Hanover Expo 2000. The building proved hoe easy it was to use this material in places that were very distant from its homelands.
In Occidente le potenzialità del bambù, come materiale da costruzione, sono ancora poco conosciute, al contrario di quanto accade in Asia, America Latina ed Africa, dove il materiale, che cresce in abbondanza, è utilizzato per costruire case, ponti, arredi, laminati, pavimenti e trova applicazioni anche nella medicina. In America Latina e in particolar modo in Colombia, la Guadua Angustifolia, una delle specie di bambù più adatte per l’edilizia, ha consentito all’architetto Simon Velez di realizzare arditi manufatti architettonici: da ville in luoghi da sogno, a capannoni e stalle, da ponti in contesti naturali e urbani a case a basso costo. Riconosciuto come uno degli architetti più interessanti per i suoi edifici di bambù, Velez è una figura nota a livello internazionale per aver realizzato in Europa la costruzione di bambù più significativa, all’Espo 2000 di Hannover, dimostrando la fattibilità dell’utilizzo di questo materiale a latitudini diverse da quelle d’origine.
Simon Velez: l’architetto pirata / Spita, Leone. - In: ABITARE LA TERRA. - ISSN 1592-8608. - STAMPA. - 15:(2006), pp. 14-25.
Simon Velez: l’architetto pirata
SPITA, Leone
2006
Abstract
In the West, many people are unaware of the potential of bamboo as a building material. On the contrary, in Asia, Latin America and Africa where bamboo grows in abundance, it is used to build houses, bridges, furniture, laminates and flooring as well as in certain medicines. Bamboo is an oversize grass. In Latin America, especially in Colombia, the Guadua Angustifolia, the kind of bamboo most suitable for construction, has allowed the architect Simon Velez to built daring architectural structures: villas in breathtaking places, warehouses, stables, bridges in countryside and towns as well as low cost low cost housing. Recognized as a remarkable architect thanks to his bamboo houses, Velez won international acclaim for having built the most significant bamboo structure in Europe at the Hanover Expo 2000. The building proved hoe easy it was to use this material in places that were very distant from its homelands.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.