(First in a series)
By Noralyn Dudt
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| The San Agustin Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte |
The Augustinian friars were the founders and first apostles of
the Catholic faith in the Philippines. They were instrumental in establishing
the first Catholic missionary settlements throughout the archipelago especially
in Northern Luzon. The missionaries were led by the navigator and Augustinian
friar Andres de Urdaneta when King Philip of Spain sent a Spanish fleet with
five Augustinian friars on board the Galleon.
At first, the friars used local materials such as bamboo to build
chapels. They soon started dabbling
with bricks and local coral stones. The
first buildings however were damaged by earthquakes, typhoons and fire. The friars soon learned that there must be a
better method which was marrying bamboo with bricks or stones.
Durability is one of the three
characteristics of good architecture.
The other two are utility and beauty. "Firmatis, Utilitas,
Venusitatis" ( durability, utility, beauty) were deemed essential by the
Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio in his treatise De Architectura over
2,000 years ago.
As the friars settled the land, they soon came to recognize that their new home
was very much unlike where they came from,
an arid place that was Spain. Unlike Spain, their new home had incessant
rains and was prone to a variety of natural disasters:
typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic
eruptions.
It was an awareness that they took seriously and they were
determined that whatever they built must
be able to withstand earthquakes and typhoons. This knowledge also
prompted them to build the bell tower away from the church building so that
neither one would damage the other in
case one of them collapses.
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| The Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur |
Comprehensive engineering comparisons between bamboo and steel
concrete reinforcements have not been made to date. Steel reinforcements
specifications vary over a wide range of strengths. Bamboo also varies on how
it is treated and its strength can vary over time due to moisture absorption or
even attack from termites from which it needs to be protected. However, research indicates that bamboo is a viable
and a renewable source of material for concrete reinforcement. Interestingly,
it has been noted that steel reinforcements can act as stress concentrators
with concrete portions spalling off and underlying exposure of the steel. In
addition to lowering strength, the damaged structure reinforcements would be
exposed to degradation from corrosion and further damage over time to stress
fatigue factors. The bamboo which is
less dense and has its primary strength in longitudinal ("stem")
direction may be more pliable and resilient with less vulnerability to dynamic
forces generated by earthquakes.
Bamboo is a fast-growing grass. Its unique properties come from
the natural composite structure of fibers that consists mainly of cellulose
microfibrils in a matrix of intertwined hemicellulose and lignin called
lignin-carbohydrate complex. Although it is strong, it's not rigid. Its
advantage is its pliability—instead of breaking in gusty winds, it sways.
The fact that these churches which are centuries old are still
standing verifies what was always known:
that bamboo-constructed buildings performed extremely well during
earthquakes. These structures are quite unique in their Firmatis, Utilitas,
Venusitatis ( durability, utility, beauty) that they are considered to have an
outstanding value to humanity and listed in the World Heritage site of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO).
Next: the reconstruction of
the St. Joseph Church of Dingras by Evita Castro de Alban
Noralyn Onto Dudt is
appreciative of the information on steel that her husband Philip J. Dudt, a
retired metallurgical and structural engineer provided for this article.
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