Regeneration

The Muong live in the mountainous regions of North-Vietnam. Even though they are linguistically related to the Viets, they developed a culture closer to the one of the Thai groups. Their houses covered with a widely overhanging "turtle shell" roofing and resting on solid wood piles are recognizable in the entire region. However, the Muong have been undergoing the demographic pressure from the Viets for the last decade, as it is the case for all of the ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Thus, less and less houses are built in consequence of the overexploitation of wood and of the introduction of contemporary models of Vietnamese compartments made out of brick and reinforced concrete.

Plenty of bamboo is available in the area. It is used as the main building material for a new type of housing; a reinterpretation of the traditional lodging and an alternative to the "concrete only" building habit. The symbolic dimension of space is respected and the piles are maintained, whereas an outside kitchen and bathrooms are built on a great levelled area. Bamboo is used untreated (framework and light structures, piles) as well as transformed (covering, plywood, floor).
The bamboo plywood industry develops in Vietnam, making the produced materials more present on the domestic market. Not all the transformations of bamboo are useful. However, a certain number of laminated plaited bamboo, coated with soy-based glue and hot-pressed afterwards are ecologically and economically speaking "interesting". Furthermore, the bamboo forests are looked after and renewed in Vietnam, and, unlike wood, bamboo regenerates after cutting. Mature after three to six years, bamboo stubbles are ready to be used for construction, with a yield twenty five times higher than the one of wood.