Housing NOW / Blue Temple

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Text description provided by the architects. Since the military coup of February 2021, Housing NOW has developed a modular bamboo housing system engineered for emergency and conflict-affected contexts in Myanmar. The country has hundreds of bamboo species in all shapes, colors, and forms. Conventionally, the largest-diameter species are used for construction, while smaller culms are employed for farming or fencing. The larger culms go for higher prices on the market; by contrast, small-diameter bamboo is extremely abundant and inexpensive because its traditional applications demand it in large quantities. This affordability presents an architectural opportunity: by bundling and reconfiguring these small culms into structural frames, Housing NOW has repurposed a low-value material into a groundbreaking construction system.