Wonder Grass Internship Report

Design philosophy, or vision of the architectural office and its implementation in the project/s that you have been associated with VISION Wonder Grass is an Entrepreneurial initiative that strives to bring Bamboo based building systems in the mainstream of construction-industry. The aim is to provide a complete 'End-to-end' solution to a consumer in 'One-stop-shop' format, making it an easy and enjoyable experience to build with bamboo.

Wonder Grass is conceived for:  Scale-up the operations and cater to large volumes,  Provide on-call, efficient 'Building-services' and ingenious 'Building-products'  Achieve Cost-effective and competent Building-technology with bamboo.  To skill artisans by fusing modern technology with eco-friendly building materials.  To bring significant energy efficiencies in construction methods.  To promote small production clusters to achieve scale.  To revive the fast dying traditional art of building with natural fibres.  Help marginal farmers harvest bamboo profitably.  Reward sufficiently stake-holders.

Wonder Grass is a market-driven initiative with backward and forward linkages in place to address the housing-needs of rural and urban India, enabling and ensuring the most appropriate use of bamboo, as building material at par with any other.

Effort is made to merge crafts-based knowledge with contemporary design thinking so as to involve traditional and contemporary craftsmanship, which the firm has always been keen on. Wonder Grass has been designed with a view to:   

cater to large volumes; provide on-call, efficient products, design and services; achieve cost-effectiveness with competent bamboo based building-technologies

Bamboo artisans across country knew Vinoo Kaley as Guruji, who is fondly remembered as 'Bamboo man' by his associates, colleagues, friends and almost everyone whoever met him. Wonder Grass was set up with inspiration from him as the driving force. The efforts are powered by the dreams which once Vinoo saw for bamboo. Wonder Grass draws energy from what he wrote about bamboo, from what he felt for bamboo and bamboo artisans, from what he designed and built with bamboo, from what he believed in and fought for all his life.

Implementation of vision in the projects: As a part of my internship program at Wonder Grass I was chiefly associated in the design development and drawings of Pre-fabricated building modules for Outdoor structures (Pergolas), Sanitation Units and Cottage units. I also worked on a few distinct projects (pedestrian bridge, pergola+balcony, etc.)

The pre-fab ‘BIY - Build It Yourself’ Kits are Conceived as a ‘Packaged-set of building components’ which can be easily assembled on site (with minimal skill-sets), in a series of simple ‘Do-it-Yourself’ style of operations and erected in no-time. Kit of parts includes structural components, composite wall panels, door-window frames/panels, roofing sheets (CGI sheets), and joinery hardware necessary for assembly and erection on site.

All the panels and other various components are constructed and packed in the workshop itself. When an order for a structure is placed, it takes less than a month to fabricate it in the workshop (if the components are not already available) and assemble it on site. Ingenious and efficient systems make this possible. This allows for catering to large volume of structures within a limited time and budget.

From the workshop, the kit is transported to the site. On the site, it takes just 1-3 days (according to size of structure) to assemble the structure and it is ready to use. As all the building components are made essentially of Bamboo, a ‘non-timber forest produce’ that grows extremely fast, the structures are very environment and pocket friendly. The carbon footprint of the production process is highly minimized.

The bamboo used for construction is acquired from the regional market and farmers themselves.

The treatment of bamboo and fabrication of panels is carried out in a workshop located at Peth, a small village on the outskirts of Nagpur.

Local craftsmen are trained and employed here.

Women from the village are also employed as unskilled labour occasionally when the work load is high. This makes for a healthy contribution to the local economy. The craft of constructing with bamboo is carried on and innovated upon as new trainees and apprentices join the firm.

Your understanding of the how the architectural design process evolves when structural and service issues are integrated to create the final product based on the projects handled by you.

DESIGN and STRUCTURES The design process in the projects I was associated was unique and novel to me.

When the initial concept/needs of the project would be established, the design process was essentially driven by the structural system chosen. The design once sketched out, was drafted. Then simultaneously construction details and structures were resolved through scaled down model making with actual bamboo, prototyping, drafting and 3D modelling.

The pedestrian bridge designed for a biodiversity park at Vena is a single pylon structure.

Two pylons of bamboo on one edge of the stream take weight of the rest of the bridge which is suspended by bamboo cables. The other end of the bridge rests lightly on the other edge of the stream, with no structural support or loading. Span of the bridge is around 32 feet. The visual character of the bridge is defined purely by the bamboo structure. The architectural design is an elegant amalgamation of the structural and the visual.

A shaded porch and a balcony on a first floor were required for a house in Pune. The demand was met in a neat design using bamboo.

A minimal and simple lean to roof pergola was designed made out of bamboo. The horizontal bracings for the columns were doubled up as planters. With structural support, this design framed the entry to the house elegantly.

The balcony on the top floor is made using panels of 1� thick bamboos integrated with a stainless steel frame for a light structure with a contemporary look. The aesthetic and structural design in the project progressed simultaneously to lead to this end product.

MODULAR STRUCTURES In modular structures, an elegant, typical design is aimed at. Once there is a visualization of the final structure, the panels are designed. The vertical panels are the main structural and aesthetic members of the structure. The roof and floor are also subsequently designed as per need. The key points of structural design are ease of fabrication for the panels and more importantly, the speed and ease of assembly at the site of installation. Once the basic structure and sizes of the panels is finalized as per need, various panels are designed in the required overall sizes so people can pick and choose, and the design of the structure can be optimised according to functional and aesthetic needs. This is a standard procedure for a structure like an outdoor pergola or a cottage unit.

A specific set of panels comes together in different combinations to create structures that vary as per need. Example: Modular Pergolas- various options:

Similarly, a set range of panels, come together to create a range of sanitation units. Economic, eco-friendly, well ventilated, aesthetically pleasant and soothingly blending into the natural environment, these units come in various sizes and compositions to suit a variety of needs.

In a similar manner, for cottage structures, different panels of set sizes but varying configurations can come together to meet different needs and purposes.

The cottage structures are so designed to take on extensions in the form of an attached bathroom, a veranda, a kitchenette or a small room.

Electric and plumbing supplies are added to the structure are added to the structures post installation, in the conventional ways. Wires/pipes etc. are generally concealed in half-split bamboo channels, keeping in tune with the aesthetics.

The stilted cottages are raised above the ground, minimizing effect of dampness/termites etc.

Rainwater harvesting is conveniently made possible by the sloping roofs, and bamboo channels are used as gutters to direct water to appropriate storage containers.

A 10’x16’ Cottage unit with a small room+veranda as extensions

Your understanding of how drawings are used at site and your insight into the relationship between the site and the office based on the projects handled by you.

USE OF DRAWING

For Fabrication: For fabrication of building components in the workshop, detailed construction drawings of all the panels, columns, beams etc. are provided to the craftsmen.

Drawings of wooden blocks and other similar elements required are provided to the carpenters/manufacturers to get them ready.

For Assembly: During assembly of said structure, the team is provided with overall drawings of the structure including plans, sections, elevations etc. Overall dimensions and relation between the different elements is illustrated. 3D views are also provided for better comprehension. Joinery details between the different elements in the BIY kit are emphasized.

Along with this an illustrated steps of assembly manual is often included, in case the team in question is not the same as the one involved in fabrication at Wonder Grass.

For Clients: Simpler, easily comprehendible drawings and 3D views are prepared to be shared with prospective clients, in presentations and in brochures.

Your learning with respect to Office Management and Site Management.

OFFICE and SITE Management The office environment at Wonder grass is highly collaborative.

Once the design is conceptualised and developed upon through sketches and preliminary drawings, it is taken forward through model making. Along with the craftsmen, a scaled down detailed model of the structure is made using bamboo itself. The craftsmen and their expertise are consulted for opinions on the design, how the fabrication and assembly would come about, the speed possible, the apt. techniques and technologies that could be adopted etc.

Instead of conventional blueprints, scale structural models made of hand-whittled bamboo sticks are created. The model is made exactly as the final structure would be. First, the panels are made. Then they are brought together and their joinery considered. Construction details are figured out through this real time modelling.

1:1 prototyping is also frequently adopted. Simultaneously the design is developed in CAD as well as 3D modelling. Once the design is ready, the detailed construction drawings of the panels and components are handed over to the craftsmen in the workshop. As they were already involved in the design and model making process, the head craftsmen in the least is pretty familiar with what is expected out of the project.

In the workshop, raw bamboo is treated to make it resistant to termites and weathering. Once treated, it’s segregated according to thickness and straightened, smoothened at the nodes and polished. Selected pieces of bamboo are cut to apt. size, and made into the required panels through the right processes.

Various techniques like splitting, weaving, mat making etc. are employed according to the design.

Management of the workshop is a tedious task as it involves overlooking all these simultaneous processes in full swing. Overlooking making of the panels brings one face head-on, challenges of the material that didn’t emerge in a smaller scale Cracks and bends in the material, and the essential organic nature of the material is to be tackled with. While this aspect could be overcome in a stand-alone structure by minor adjustments, it takes up a more significant form in the context of modular structures as all the components need to come together appropriately during assembly. Often, the lack of knowledge of the nature of site where the structure would be established would pose a problem.

When all the panels are ready, the kit is packed along with all the necessary hardware and transported to the site. A team of craftsmen in charge of assembly reaches the site. With the necessary drawings and equipment they assemble the structure on site. The more efficiently planned and designed the kit is, the faster and more effortless the assembly of the final structure. Some room for organic error has to be accommodated though, because of the unique nature of bamboo and this is tackled on site with extra pieces of bamboo, wood and hardware as required. Again, it is the expertise of the craftsmen that comes into play here along with the instructions by the architect.

Thus, in minimal time and highly reduced amount of site work, the structure is ready for use.

Your learning with respect to interpersonal relations with consultants, service providers, industry representative, clients, contractors and your co-workers.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS The functioning of the office entails diverse amounts of interactions with and contributions from different parties.

The suppliers of raw bamboo are the starting part of the chain of production and are of great importance.

A healthy interaction with them leads to the acquisition of the right quality, specie and quantity of bamboo. This forms the heart and bone of each structure.

The often undermined dynamics and interactions between the builder and designer seemed to be of much significance. The best designs and construction solutions seemed arise when the craftsmen stepped into the designers’ boat and the designer contributed a hand at the craft. A frank and constant conversation between the architect, designer and the workshop coordinator as well as the craftsmen throughout the span of the project played an important role. The design would have to be tweaked according to the nature and sizes of bamboo available. Construction details were often developed to accommodate natural flaws of the material, on site and during fabrication. This was made possible due to a healthy conversation, rather than a top down approach.

There is a need for relations and dialogue between different providers like that of cement board or GI roofing sheets etc. for development of better composite building methods with bamboo. This was attempted at occasionally. Services form transporters etc. were frequently taken.

It was a constant trend to clear out a client’s inherent uninformed bias against bamboo as a material and introduce them to the vast possibilities of the materials. The structural and aesthetic potentials of the material had to be explained. The client was introduced to the unique process of pre-fabricated structures and modular designs wherein they could choose their own building components and create a structure according to their needs and desires, much like the loved game of Lego! With the major part of building happening at the workshop itself and not at the site, a good rapport and trust with the client had to be developed to ensure happiness of all parties. Tours of the workshop familiarising them with the treatment and fabrication processes, a set of short movies and animations to illustrate pre-fab construction and bamboo as a material, presentations and patient conversation came in very handy for these purposes.

The introduction of bamboo, its potential and availability to designers, architects, students of design etc. from the industry itself also play a major role in Wonder Grass. Many of these people come visit the workshop for a tour or a short observation period to learn about bamboo and see the fabrication and the structures in place.