New Bamboo – The environmental poetics of bamboo and the architecture of Simon Velez
Simon Velez, Temporary Cathedral in Guadua at Pereira, Colombia
Today people are rediscovering the advantages of bamboo, one of the world’s key construction materials. Not only is it cheap and enduring, but also has an unmistakable aesthetic appeal and in terms of its inner structure, bamboo astonishingly enough resembles many high-tech compounds. Often environmentalists call it vegetal steel.
This lecture focuses on the work of architect Simon Velez, who comes from Colombia and is the most renowned contemporary architect working with bamboo. It explains the intuitive but very disciplined process through which Velez designs and constructs his buildings. He has now completed over 250 buildings.
Ajay Khanna trained as an architect in New Delhi, India. After working in several London practices such as Foster and Partners and Allies and Morrison, he gravitated towards the work of more environmentally conscious architects such as Shigeru Ban, Glen Murcutt and Simon Velez. He is now more interested in low-cost, ‘one-off’ architecture that involves using natural materials such as bamboo. For the last three years, he has travelled to Colombia to study the work of Colombian architect Simon Velez who has build over 250 buildings in bamboo. Currently, he is also an MA student on the Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resources at London Metropolitan University.
The lecture will take place in the Cinema, ground floor.
All lectures take place in the Forum unless otherwise stated.
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