Civil engineering company Ramboll has worked with locals in Lombok, Indonesia, to build three quake-proof housing prototypes that are made almost entirely out of bamboo.
Described as "template houses", the standardised bamboo structures were designed by Ramboll with local charity Grenzeloos Milieu and University College London (UCL) in the wake of several earthquakes in Lombok in 2018.
The project seeks to provide locals with a blueprint for homes that are resistant to collapse in earthquakes, but also sustainable and affordable. The company hopes to encourage a move away from esoteric construction methods like concrete and brickwork that can require detailed knowledge.

"People in Lombok often look to the west and big cities striving to build large concrete houses. Unfortunately, only very few can afford it and even less can afford a proper design," explained Marcin Dawydzik, structural engineer at Ramboll. "As a result, majority of the houses are a mixture of concrete and brick, or timber and concrete, none of which are sufficiently reinforced and have resulted in over 300,000 collapses and almost half a million people without a roof over their head," he told Dezeen.
"Through the design and construction, the simple and beautifully finished houses have attracted the attention of the locals, who all have said that they would love to live in this house as it looks 'safe and beautiful'."

The template houses were the result of the Ramb...