S T U D I O E A R T H S H E L T E R
Bamboo House, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
C O M P L E T I O N
1987
“Cultural Acupuncture with a bamboo needle. ”
In her commitment to socially relevant design/build/research/education, Susan sees a role for the environmental designer in a community-based, culturally responsive practice. Susan founded a non-profit organization, Studio Earth Shelter, to provide architectural design, planning, and consultation services to organizations interested in experimental construction technologies, natural disaster-resistance technologies, remote design/builds, alternative building materials, and housing as a basic human right. The group has pursued projects and research interests in alternative resources and sustainable design in Mexico, India, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Crow Nation, Navajo Nation, Arizona, and rural Montana.
The Bamboo House project is an earthquake-resistant, disaster relief housing prototype made of fiber-reinforced soil-cement, a thin and woody, but plentiful caña, and a timber-straight, locally available, giant bamboo variety, the Guadua Angustifolia. The multi-layer anti-seismic structure was designed as an A-frame that shifts up a gradual slope, offering opportunities for four levels of open living space. Studio Earth Shelter worked directly with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Culture to to start a school of bamboo craft, promoting this low-carbon, economically important material for self-help housing in areas threatened by deforestation and as an alternative to oil-dependent concrete block.
