Bamboo and Building Construction

Bamboo along the river Brantas, Malang, East Java 1930 (Collection: http://www.kitlv.nl)

Bamboo plants in Indonesia is a plant that easy to find, either in the yard, the river even in the vast lands that make up a bamboo forest. Bamboo used by people for various things, the plant is exploited and taken either through the path of the river or overland to places of processing and sale of bamboo.

Function of the most phenomenal bamboo as a building construction material. This has been done a long time as a construction material either as a whole or as a buffer in making a building. The use of bamboo was chosen because it is economically cheap and readily available. Bamboo also has a cylindrical shape which varies according to type, so its use can be adjusted. Some photos of the Dutch colonial era history shows that the presence of bamboo is very vital in the construction of a building.

Bamboo structures for the construction of the Fair 'Pasar Gambir' of 1934 in Batavia, Java (Collection: Tropen Museum Nederlands TMnr_10002570)

Construction of a building in Pasar Gambir in 1934 for a festival, all using bamboo frame. Bamboo is structured in such a way as to give the form of beauty and strength to the building. Moreover bamboo is also used as bridge pillars combined with the use of concrete in Plampangan Residency Kediri, East Java in 1920.

Bamboo bridge on concrete pillars at Plampangan, res. Kediri, East Java 1920 (Collection: http://www.kitlv.nl)

Bamboo in Kerintji, Sumatra in 1941 is used as the construction of buildings to catch fish in the river, is also used to make a water wheel that serve as irrigation for farmland. In Bali bamboo used for the cremation ritual Ngaben, building construction for the cremation ceremony with pomp Ngaben constructed according to the caste to be cremated.

Bamboo structures, presumably for fishing in a river in Kerintji 1941 (Collection: http://www.kitlv.nl)

Inevitably, bamboo has become so important in a variety of activities building developments in the first. Now too, bamboo is still used to be important for building construction, although more rarely used. But campaigners bamboo, believe that bamboo is a plant full of wonders that can be used for anything.

Grand staircase of bamboo, covered with white cotton for the cremation in Bali 1912 (Collection: http://www.kitlv.nl)

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