Seeking for sustainable practices: the Great Bamboo Wall, a bridge between reality and the spiritual world

Bamboo Wall is the name of this house, conceived and designed by Kengo Kuma, one of the most renowned contemporary Japanese architects, and built in the Beijing area, entirely made of bamboo and perfectly integrated with the surrounding nature. The building is far more than a house built in bamboo... the villa looks like an artwork, designed to celebrate this material, used for both the exterior of the house and the division of the interior spaces. Bamboo, which on the contrary to popular belief is not a type of grass or wood, is one of the most sustainable materials available to architects, thanks to its rapid growth that provides unlimited reserves. It also has exceptional ability to fight air pollution: a plantation is able to capture up to 17 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year, an amount 40 times greater than that absorbed by a forest of the same extension. This is why it is considered one of the key elements for sustainable design. Kengo Kuma is known precisely for his sustainable approach to architecture and to the integration of architectural space with the surrounding environment.

Thus, the endless line of the Great Wall of China becomes an integral part of the house he built, Shuiguan-Badaling, a suggestive name: Great Bamboo Wall. However, there are some substantial differences between the Chinese Great Wall and the Bamboo Wall. From a conceptual point of view, the first was conceived to divide people, while the second was created to unite cultures and lives. Its architecture, following the traditional Japanese model, also presents elements of modernity and recalls the principles of Feng Shui. The walls are made of rice paper, a typical local material. The furniture, in minimal chic style, responds to current trends, but with references to ancient Eastern cultures. At the same time, the use of advanced technologies for the kitchen, and recreation services, meets the highest demands of the Western culture.

While the Great Wall of China remains a symbol of strength, stiffness and strength, the wall of Kuma transmits a sense of fragility given by filtered light and air currents through the bamboo structure, which, according to the architect himself, "gain their charm through such apparent image of delicacy." This is a unique house, in complete harmony with nature. Heart of the house is the tea room, surrounded by a shallow pool of water, ideal place for meditation, bringing together a strong symbolic value: according to Buddhist principles, waterways have the task of defining boundaries between reality and the spiritual dimension. The tea room is proposed as the center of social life. For the entrance floor dark slates were used, to mitigate the rigid geometric effect of the bamboo structure. The entrance overlooks the surrounding valley and consists of two open and two closed sides. The space, designed in this way, acts as the link between inner and outer environment, or between real life and spirituality.