Innovation From the Tropics for the Tropics - BASE Innovation Center

“Let’s create a bamboo university.”

This ambitious idea of the Hilti Foundation surprised Johann Baar when he started working at the foundation four years ago. “Meanwhile, we have come very close to achieving it,” declares the Hilti Foundation’s Director Affordable Housing & Technology. “Today we are known as experts in bamboo research and alternative technologies for sustainable construction.”

The BASE Bahay Foundation (BASE) is a nonprofit organization initiated in 2014 by the Hilti Foundation, that partners with other entities to build affordable and disaster-resistant homes. Focusing on a few selected countries in Asia, over 1,000 houses have already been built in the Philippines and 88 in Nepal with their unique Cement Bamboo Frame Technology (CBFT).

In January 2021, BASE inaugurated the BASE Innovation Center (BIC), a comprehensive research and testing facility for safe, affordable, green and sustainable housing technologies. “There are many testing facilities for high-tech materials, especially in the developed world. But BIC is a unique lab: It’s in the tropics and focuses on the social housing sector. That is tropical technology for people in the tropics”, states Luis Lopez, Director of the BASE Innovation Center and one of the world’s leading bamboo experts.

Luis Lopez, head of technology at the BASE Innovation Center

The Bamboo Experts

With this new facility, BASE can advance research on materials, on construction and design methods. This is the Hilti way: investing heavily in research and development to always offer the best solutions in the market. “The same logic applies to the low-income environment we support as the Hilti Foundation. We must always have top-notch technology, if we want to successfully help families in need. This requires continuous improvement and constant promoting of bamboo as a resilient and disaster-resistant building material”, Johann Baar completes.

Universal Testing Machine setup for the bending test at the BASE Innovation Center.

In the bamboo community, BASE is well known as a pioneer and innovator. Now that the BIC is up and running, there is a lot of interest from universities around the world to collaborate, and some important partnerships have been established: With ETH Zurich (CH), University of Pittsburgh (US), Coventry University (GB), De La Salle University (PH), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK). “Our research partners recognize the added value of BASE, which bridges the gap between high-end research and application. BASE Bahay’s long experience in implementing the technology in the field, helps us to understand the real challenges of working with bamboo”, explains Johann Baar.

Locally, BASE is working together with master’s students at De La Salle University, and internationally, they are partnering with other universities to develop new materials for sustainable and affordable construction. For example, BIC is collaborating with Coventry and De La Salle University students on a project to replace expensive imported timber by composed beams with shredded bamboo. “By working together, we are creating an international network for students and professors,” smiles Luis Lopez, “and we even have South-South-cooperation: With a Colombian university, we are working on a new system for wall construction. If that works, we’ll bring it to the Philippines as well.” BASE also collaborates with other innovation centers or institutes like ARUP, one of the largest design firms headquartered in the United Kingdom. They approached BASE to jointly design a three-story building using CBFT.

Bamboo samples at the BASE Innovation Center.

Since 2016, BASE has worked together with experts from around the world to develop the new ISO 22156 standard for bamboo structures, which was published in June 2021. With its research and its field experience, BASE aims to help establish regulation for the use of bamboo as a safe building material. The goal is for countries worldwide to incorporate bamboo technology into their national building codes. Johann Baar concludes: “We can create positive impact and play a strong role on a global level through our work, by advising on building codes, by helping other organizations build better and safer with bamboo, and by publishing about our research.”

The Bamboo University – chasing the vision

BASE Innovation Center focuses not only on research and development (R&D), technology application, building codes and approvals. Another priority is training and learning. BASE is accredited by the Philippine government as a professional training provider for the National Continuing Education Program. Now BASE can promote technology not only through research, project partners and students, but also by educating engineers, architects, builders, and the public.

Marion Vicencio, a post graduate student, prepares the Universal Testing Machine for the bending test at the BASE Innovation Center.

With this accreditation, the idea of a bamboo university is within reach. BASE is a reference for bamboo and a hub for research in sustainable construction, while publishing their research results and success stories further increases the credibility of bamboo as a strong alternative building material. BASE aims to lay the foundation for better housing for those who cannot afford it, as a safe home is essential for people’s safety, health and social inclusion. But BASE is also laying the groundwork for many things that are happening in social housing around the world. Even for a bamboo university.

BASE Bahay Foundation

Workers build an orphanage using bamboo-cement technology in Batangas.

BASE is a pioneering foundation that provides alternative building technologies to enable a network of partners to build affordable, resilient, and green homes. BASE's goal is to provide families in need with sustainable, disaster-resistant and comfortable housing built with the Cement Bamboo Frame Technology they developed.

Cement Bamboo Frame Technology

Brian Bautista, a post graduate student, at the BASE Innovation Center.

Cement Bamboo Frame Technology (CBFT) was developed by the Hilti Foundation. It is a disaster-resistant and green building technology for social housing that uses bamboo as the only structural element. The BASE Bahay Foundation has used this technology to build more than 1,000 homes for needy families in the Philippines, and has joined forces with Habitat for Humanity to bring construction to a larger, if not industrial scale. They also start to operate in Nepal. CBFT has also helped local farmers to establish a strong business as they contribute to the supply chain for treated bamboo poles. The BASE Innovation Center serves as a research and training center for CBFT, as well as other safe and affordable housing products from various regional developers. BASE plays an active role in promoting the use of its technology by builders and government authorities.

Affordable Housing & Technology

Bina Chaudary and her son Ankit Chaudhary in their house, Nepal.

Adequate housing is a human right, and a safe home is a prerequisite for social and economic development. Yet, an estimated 1.6 billion people worldwide live in substandard housing. That's one in four – and the number is growing! This has a significant impact not only on their safety and health, but also on their economic opportunities and social inclusion.

By developing innovative technologies and sustainable building concepts, the Hilti Foundation is helping to create safe and affordable housing that can serve as a starting point for a better life for people in need.