Thesis (BS Architecture) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2013

Bamboo plays an important role in the Philippine history. It grows almost everywhere in the regions. Early Filipinos and even people from other countries consider bamboo as very useful in almost all aspects of life especially as construction materials for building houses when nails, concrete and other modern materials are not yet available. However, with the rise of modernization, Filipinos tend to cope to the new environment and shift from the traditional to the modern construction ways of forgetting the traditional methods on the bamboo construction, particularly on its connections. Bamboo connections: Integrating the Traditional and Modern Bamboo Joinery in Building Construction uses a descriptive research approach in identifying the bamboo joint connections developed traditionally by the five Lumad in Davao City namely: (1) Bagobo-Tagabawa, (2) Bagobo-Klata, (3) Obu-Manuvu, (4) Ata Manobo, and (5) Matigsalug. In the research, only one bamboo species named Gigantochla levis (Blanco) Merr, or locally known as Botong is used in the study in order to eliminate variables during the tests for shear and moment of both traditional and modern connections. Furthermore, Soak Diffusion is used as a treatment for all the culms used of the selected species to protect the bamboo culms from insect attracts which could later damage the whole structure. According to the data collected from the shear and moment tests for both traditional and bolt connections, the individual traditional lashing joint connections can resist 1kN before the first break while 1kN to 21 kN can be resisted by the individual modern bolted joint connections on its first break. This means that modern bolted connections show good results which can be integrated to the traditional method suitable in designing bigger structures.