Why We Love Radical Ideas: Architect Rethinks Housing With Bamboo

#thinkbamboo Podcast : Se.1, Ep.18 -- Raphaël Ascoli, Bamboo Architect Exploring and implementing radical ideas | https://www.thinkbamboo.org/2023/08/24/why-we-love-radical-ideas-architect-rethinks-housing-with-bamboo/
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Welcome to the ThinkBamboo Podcast! In this episode, we are thrilled to introduce Raphaël Ascoli, a trailblazer whose journey has been interwoven with the dynamic landscape of bamboo innovation. From his formative years in China to his professional ventures in Japan and his eventual settlement in Myanmar, where he founded the visionary architecture design studio, Blue Temple, Raphaël's story is a testament to creativity, passion, and transformative design. Ascoli and his team have been focusing their attention most recently on low-cost bamboo housing for emergency shelter. We met first time in Germany at the #EuropeanBambooExpo 2023 in Dortmund.

[00:00] Raphaël Ascoli focuses on low-cost housing and emergency shelters using bamboo
[06:07] Burmese pagodas use unique organic-shaped bamboo scaffolding instead of steel
[11:53] Bamboo construction offers a high-quality & innovative solution for local housing
[17:47] Promoting bamboo construction in Madagascar
[23:37] Private company collaborates with NGOs for low-cost housing solutions in Myanmar
[29:26] Bamboo roofing is cost-effective and requires skilled work and extensive knowledge
[34:29] Challenges faced due to political turmoil require careful considerations
[39:27] Southeast Asia is leading the push for bamboo as a construction material
[44:43] Transition in design and engineering is bringing new innovation and challenges

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ThinkBamboo Podcast Guest -
Raphaël Ascoli grew up in China, spent and spent a couple of years working in Japan before settling down in Myanmar, where he started an architecture design studio called Blue Temple. He has since been teaching at Yangon Technological University. Ascoli initiated a series of architecture design workshops and community-led public space construction projects. He has also published research about his work on computational mapping in data-deserts, bamboo innovative construction techniques, and urban planning opportunities for the city of Yangon such as for a proposal for a linear park and an urban drainage upgrade using fluid dynamics. Ascoli and team have been focusing their attention most recently on low-cost housing.