Expo Hannover - Coffee Pavilion

摘要

This is the first structure that I constructed outside of Colombia. I made a full-scale prototype in Manizales, Colombia, at 2,200 m above sea level that is still standing. The prototype was done first to complete loading tests and ensure that the structure would support the required forces and loads as dictated by the German authorities. It was designed using the criteria that we only use local materials found around the site during its construction: bamboo Guadua、 Arboloco, Aliso, and bamboo Chusquea. In this place, all of these materials coincide. At a higher altitude, bamboo Guadua would not grow. At a lower altitude, neither Arboloco, Aliso nor bamboo Chusque can grow. The structural engineer on the Colombian side, who had no experience with bamboo structures, naively concluded that the structure would collapse. Still, a German engineer was then hired and he concluded that the structure would indeed comply with all the strict norms of the German authorities after a more careful study is done. With expertise in non-destructive load tests for non-conventional and not easily classified structures, the German engineer came to Colombia, and the loading tests were a success. The engineer told me that this structure is not standing simply because of the design, but also because of my craftsmen's impressive ability to make the joinery and unions perfect. After the prototype was approved, we proceeded to build the second one in Hannover, a replica of the first. In a materials laboratory focused on wood in Stuttgart, Germany, I remember a leading engineer asking me why I am using such a low-density wood such as Aliso when I have even more extraordinary woods in Colombia? I answered, "because not even in botany can one be racist."