Shantitown: Building system in bamboo for emergency

Shantitown is a play word for “Shanti” – meaning “peace” in Sanskrit language – and shantytown. Shantitown is a new concept building system with bamboo which faces the problem of house needing, providing an innovative emergency solution that can substitute the actual ones improving their safety, comfort and aesthetics. Shantitown keeps the principles of an informal settlement, such as low price, autochthonous materials and self construction and furthermore enables people to guarantee the long term safety of their house, so that the role of external charitable associations may be kept minimal. The structural analysis focused on two of the main principles of Shantitown: the durability of the structure as built, checked and maintained in time by local people and the freedom of composition of the secondary structure. A series of analyses has been performed hypothesizing random damage of the beams and checking the main structure stability, finding the best solution for safety and utility.