buildings

Jörg Stamm is a carpenter and was born in Drohlshagen, Germany. After his education period he travelled through Europe, attracted by constructions of stairways, houses, boats and bridges - but also to the idea of being a Peace Corps worker far from his home.

His first environmental project as a Peace Corps worker was a biogas installation in a village in Ecuador. Only in Colombia he met the bamboo Guadua and came to appreciate it. Above all Jörg Stamm is known for his impressive Guadua bridges, which span up to 52 meters.

In August 2000, he organized a bridge construction workshop for architects, engineers and craftsmen in cooperation with the 'Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit' (GTZ) and their partner university in Pereira (UTP). This seminar finished the following September and showed that also unpracticed workers can produce a bamboo truss with low mechanical effort within 3 days.
This bridge was the first bamboo construction with all statics authorizations in the city area of Pereira.

In 1999 Jörg Stamm constructed a restaurant at a fishing pond near Popayán (Colombia).
This building gets its fantastic aura rather from its well designed structure and the fascinating material Guadua than from its outer appearance.

The design of this structure emphasizes on maximizing the length of the individual elements, but at the same time keeping their effective length short. This is achieved with supports of four Guadua canes each and braces between them.
The crossing poles are connected together with a bolt: The bolt divides the effective length, reduces slenderness ratio and, consequently, increases load capacity.

In the beginning of 2002 Jörg Stamm completed a barn for a nursery in Popayán.
The building is meant for the storage of mold. Tipper trucks unload their load, therefore the headroom width of the construction had to be appropriate.

The supports consist of four pairs of Guadua poles each which are clamped into the foundation to be bending resistant.
The curved shape of the posts is inspired by the natural growth form of Guadua culms.
The projecting roof provides protection from weather.

Jörg Stamm built 16 buildings of this type, it is used for very different purposes: as a sport place, as storeroom, pavillion in a garden, shelter and so on.

This stage with a canopy from Guadua is situated in the 'Parque de La Vida' in Armenia. Armenia is known as the center of the Guaduas, this is why there can be found many Guadua constructions.

Many meeting-places and sports places have a roof because of the high precipitations and sun radiation in the tropics. Furthermore the climate demands open as well as semi-open buildings to provide good air ventilation inside.

This construction is again a good example of an semi-open building, which consists of almost only the roof construction.

This residence building near Pereira was half-timbered with Guadua and filled up with clay.

Simón Vélez designed a very low-cost residence on invitation of the Vitra Design Museums and in assisance of the French Center for Applied Investigation on Adobe Construction CRATerre.
On two floors it offers 60m² living space at a price of only 5000 U.S. dollars in Colombia. It was built during a workshop in France.