Housing NOW by Blue Temple

Housing NOW is a modular bamboo housing system designed for emergency and conflict-affected contexts in Myanmar, developed in response to the humanitarian and architectural crises following the military coup of February 2021. The project addresses an urgent need for resilient, affordable, and rapidly deployable housing while leveraging the country’s abundant natural resources. Myanmar is home to hundreds of bamboo species, traditionally used for construction, farming, or fencing. While large-diameter bamboo commands high market value, small-diameter bamboo is inexpensive and widely available. Housing NOW reimagines these small culms as structural elements, bundling and configuring them into load-bearing frames that form the backbone of a modular housing system, transforming a low-value material into a versatile architectural solution.

Structural Innovation

Each bamboo frame integrates vertical columns, floor and roof beams, and diagonal bracing into a continuous monolithic unit. Four frames interlock to form a rigid chassis that supports floors, walls, and roofing. To ensure the system’s reliability, five full-scale prototypes were constructed and tested, subjected to lateral loads with a dynamometer to simulate wind pressure, and refined to enhance performance under extreme weather conditions. This rigorous testing establishes Housing NOW as a resilient system capable of withstanding natural disasters and conflict-related challenges.

Pilot Deployments and Field Validation

The system was first implemented through ten pilot units across diverse contexts. In Hmawbi, two units served as a preschool and four units as an orphanage for children from Chin State. In Yangon Region slums, two single-family houses provided safe accommodation for displaced families, while in Kyauktaw, two units functioned as a community center for displaced Arakan families. These pilots confirmed the adaptability of the modular system across rural, peri-urban, and active conflict zones. A decisive validation occurred when a 26-unit Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp near Mandalay survived a magnitude-7.7 earthquake just 15 kilometers from its epicenter. All units remained intact, demonstrating rare, field-based seismic resilience and confirming the robustness of the modular bamboo approach.

Construction and Adaptability

The structural system relies on small-diameter bamboo culms standardized and fabricated with jigs. The modular frames allow rapid assembly, enabling a complete house to be erected in one week at a cost of approximately USD 1,000–1,300. Early logistical challenges, including military checkpoints that seized prebuilt frames, led to an adaptive approach: transporting only jigs and raw bamboo and fabricating frames on-site. In remote regions, small-scale mobile treatment tanks process local bamboo species, ensuring timely and secure construction under complex conditions.

Participatory Design

Construction is carried out with the displaced communities themselves, embedding skills and providing livelihoods while ensuring practical design outcomes. Residents are actively involved in decisions regarding window sizes, partition layouts, and entrance locations. In Hmawbi, a local displaced carpenter contributed a woven bamboo flooring design, exemplifying the integration of traditional knowledge and local expertise. This participatory approach ensures hyper-local engagement, bypassing risks related to conscription laws and creating a sense of ownership and empowerment within the community.

Addressing Compounding Crises

Housing NOW responds not only to conflict but to overlapping natural disasters. Since 2021, nearly 110,000 civilian houses have been destroyed in Myanmar. Cyclone Mocha in 2023 displaced approximately 360,000 people, and Typhoon Yagi in 2024 caused extensive flooding, displacing millions more. Combined with ongoing seismic activity, these events create long-term, compounded emergencies that demand rapid, reliable, and resilient housing solutions.

Sustainability and Social Impact

Housing NOW exemplifies a design methodology that combines ecological awareness, material efficiency, and social responsibility. By utilizing abundant, low-value bamboo and engaging communities directly in construction, the system minimizes environmental impact while fostering self-reliance and resilience. Its modularity, rapid deployability, and verified structural performance make it a model for emergency housing not only in Myanmar but also for other regions facing complex crises.

The project demonstrates that architecture, when designed and tested in situ, can provide meaningful, durable solutions under extreme conditions of war, disaster, and logistical constraint. Housing NOW transforms bamboo into a medium for hope and resilience, offering displaced communities not only shelter but also safety, dignity, and continuity.

Photography: Aung Htay Hlaing & Raphaël Ascoli