Atelier Cole: Bamboo Trees

Working with Atelier Cole, Building Trust organised in Laos a workshop for the new Free the Bears’ merchandise store, composed by fluted fountain-like bamboo canopies.

Following the construction of several built projects in South East Asia using natural materials and seeing the growing interest and response in sustainable design and natural materials such as bamboo, Building Trust organised a Design + Build workshop to be held at Kuang Si Falls – on the outskirts of Luang Prabang – with Free the Bears, an association to combat the illegal trade in live bears and provide a safe sanctuary for any rescued bears at Tat Kuang Si Rescue Centre.

Working alongside Atelier Cole, a new merchandise store was designed and built which educates both workshop participants and the high volume of annual tourist visitors to the Tat Kuang Si Park on building with bamboo.

The fluted fountain like canopies protect the deck area by catching rain water and passing it through the gravel filled, hollow, circular foundation footings. As with all Building Trust projects the Bamboo Trees project worked closely with the local community who in this case were Khmu. They assisted in sharing local skills such as bamboo, rattan weaving and palm thatching which were later used to develop the roof of the structure.

The bamboo is complimented by rope (around 10 kilometres) that spirals around the structure, weaving each piece together and creating strength from the whole. The resulting tensegrity structures lean against each other in a tripartite vault.