Sustentabilidade e arquitetura: uma reflexão sobre o uso do bambu na construção civil

Abstract

The quest for a Sustainable Development has allowed for discussions regarding the world-wide productive system based on acelerated industrialization, one of the major causes of the actual damages to the global environment. This new development paradigm should be engaged with a way of life and wealth production involved with environmental preservation of natural resources for future generations. In the construction field this new paradigm intends to improve the urban space, currently degraded, through measures to reduce pollution and waste of natural and energy resources. In addition, it should encourage the use of clean constructive tecnologies and energetically more efficient materials. This work discusses bamboo caracteristics, since they present a diversified productive potential, and indications that it is less aggressive to the environment than constructive conventional methods.The objective of this work is to examine the potential of this material, based on practical and functional aspects, regarding its aplications in sustainable buildings. The adopted methodology counted on a bibliographical survey for the formation of a theoretical base concerning sustentability of the built environmental, in addition to specific bamboo information. The theoretical information on environmetal, social, economic and cultural sustentability had been used as criteria of assessment to construct an analytical picture of the use of the bamboo for constructions in Maceió, the selected area for this study. Results demonstrate that bamboo presents a sufficiently rich constructive potential, observed throught the constructive possibilities as a result of different forms of rabbet and junctions, plus a proper adequacy to the warm humid climate of the studied region. The future perspectives suggest the need for further researchs on bamboo, as a buiding material, in order to acquire better assurance for its use in constructions in warm humid regions.