Textile-Architecture Structured on Bamboo Culms

This article aims to disclose the developments of a research on constructive methods of lightweight structures, developed by the Laboratory for Research on Living Design, LILD, from Pontifical Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio. One of the objectives of this paper is, using principles of biomimesis, to systematize constructive processes by means of the understanding of how nature creates its forms. In the Laboratory, experiments with soap bubbles and catenaries have been serving this purpose In this case, studies resulted in the solution to the covering of the newly constructed LILD's building, located in the campus of the University, a textile-architecture where structural elements and joints, usually made of steel or wood, were replaced by bamboo culms tied together. The present article also demonstrates how these culms were benefited in order to meet specific requirements of the project.