After reading the World Health Organization report on Ecosystems and Human Well-being, and the MCI/Vale Columbia Center business analysis on the potential for bamboo bicycles in Kumasi, Ghana, I was impressed with the potential of bamboo growth and use in this region. While the bicycle report is for a neighboring country, it highlights the adaptability of this resource. From clothing, to building materials, bamboo appears to be a significant part of the solution to the redevelopment of Anam.Bamboo is also an excellent metaphor for describing this redevelopment process. It is hardy, resilient and propagates from cuttings in water alone. There are thousands of different varieties and probably just as many uses for it. For Anam, it also has the potential to be a catalyst for the merging of new and innovative ideas, technologies, designs and engineering, with the social and cultural morays, hopes and ideals. It represents the importance of rural activity and vegetation in the region (which is significant culturally as this corresponds to the areas represented in the national flag of Nigeria), the potential for rapid growth under the right conditions, and for Anam, the concept that one piece can survive independently and continue to grow while surrounded by water. Rather appropriate I thought ...
Nice start Pete. You should be able to use the plot of this collage to build more ideas into and make a bit more dynamic. That said, I'm equally amazed by the potential of bamboo in all its shapes and sizes to make a great impact in Anam. You might want to look at professor Niall Kirkwood's work in Holland with "SpongeCity"; There, he explores a visually and ecologically rich matrix to extend the residency period of water along the Waal River. In Anam you might want to consider what possible platforms or armatures the bamboo could grow among/from/within... Here is an excerpt from Niall's writing about the "sponges" he uses to support and harness the flood water within the city. His research looks at expanding the flood-plane itself into the city's dense urban fabric, reconnecting various aspects of public life with the more tangible and accessible aspects of the bountiful resource. With water being the principle means of nutrient support the bamboo, I'll be interested to see the scaffolding that you develop to support the water itself:
ReplyDelete"Within each floodplain, canals are dug out to hold some of the floodwater. Cellular networks of Super Absorbent Polymers (SAP's) are placed in these elbows and when the dikes close to the river are breached a new absorbent sponge landscape is created along the entire river."The sponges create a dramatic new terrain as they swell...This sponge matrix radically re-imagines the traditional Dutch city by proposing a hybrid structure that contains water and constructs space for urbanization. Capable of holding 100 times its own weight in water, the structural sponge is realized by adding a hardening agent to the SAP, which creates a shell on the surface for development. The soft sponge is a fluctuating system of undulating hills that rise and fall according to seasonal floods. As mean water levels rise, soft sponge is converted to structural sponge and a new band of soft sponge is established on the periphery. The overall sponge matrix allows development to exist within a floodplain. The urban conditions benefit from the framework of sponge elbows by structuring newfound ground within the floodplain."