Vaibhav Kaley - CEO & Director-Operations of Wonder Grass, Nagpur - presented this talk at the STARS Forum's 7th Annual National Conference. He spoke on the immense opportunities for using Bamboo in the construction industry, along with the livelihood opportunities it creates for growers and artisans.

1. Wonder Grass:
Innovation Inspires

2.  With an average Annual yield of 3.73 Million
Metric Tones, India is the second largest
Bamboo producing country in the world.
 75% of Indian subcontinent is a natural bamboo-
habitat, spread over 9.57 million hectares.
Bamboo: A Material for Future
(Available, Accessible & Affordable)
 A fastest regenerating plant, Bamboo-pole
matures in 3-5 years, ready for application.
 With mechanical and physical properties at
par with that of mild-steel and high-grade
timber, Bamboo is ‘Steel from nature’.

3. At Wonder Grass we strive to make
building an act of joy and enrichment,
While houses we build are light on earth,
sustainable and affordable; we are
committed to a tomorrow where building
a house is within reach for every family.
Wonder Grass: Habitat for All
A Built-Environment is where practically every human
endeavor is carried out; Habitat provides a sense of
belonging, place to shelter and protection from natural
forces.
‘Build your House to the Rhythm of Life, with a bit of a science’
Shri. Vinoo Kaley

4. Wonder Grass – Value Proposition
Treated & Seasoned
Bamboo poles;
Available ‘Off-the-
Shelve’
Complete Housing Units;
Cottages, Transit Housing,
Disaster Rehab.
Customized Design &
Build solutions –
Eg. Bridge
Skilled Artisan team
for assembly, Post-
sales support
Easy to assemble ‘Kit-of-Parts’;
Ready-to-Use Building components,
Available off-the-shelve -
Bamboo-Panels, Gazebo etc.
.
• Wonder Grass has structured its product offerings, such that it provides the client a
suit of products and services across the complete value-chain of building-project
cycle, giving him/her opportunity to choose from.
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3
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5. Product Stream: Urban Retail Market
.
‘QuB – lite’: A cottage Range
the cottages are Available in ‘Off-the-
Shelve’ format, comes as a Flat-pack
solution.
The need for additional space on a
terrace, compact yet independent unit as
weekend gateway or a guest-cottages in
an eco-tourism centers, this cottage
serves all.
BIY Kits – Outdoor Semiopen Structures
The structures such as Gazebo’s, Pergola
serve multiple functions when built on the
existing terraces, gardens in the typical
urban settings
Bamboo Panels and Shading Devices
Treated Bamboo poles available in

6. Product stream: Rural Market
.
‘Home-Extension’ Kits;
One of the primary building
activity in a rural housing space
is of extension and additions, we
are targeting the extensions and
additions market.
Sanitation Units:
In the wake of the move to make India
Open-Defecation Free, there is a thrust to
build toilets across rural areas.
Conventional construction technology is
resource (and energy) intensive and is not
capable t o deliver such a large volume in
such a short time.
Bamboo based construction system on the
other hand can provide toilet units which
are better designed, at much faster rate
and which are sustainable.

7. Product stream: Institutional Market
.
Transit Living Units:
• Expandable modular building units.
These units are easy to erect and
dismantle, useful for semi-permanent
housing needs of various kinds. Like
Worker’s housing,
Post-Disaster Rehabilitation:
A self contained living-unit, for
immediate housing needs in a disaster
affected regions. Its designed as a
completely knock-down system, which is
easy to flat-pack, light-weight for
transportation and relatively easy to
assemble.

8. Building System: Salient Features
Building – Solutions are Generic; This helps address a larger
cross section of the market demand
Building system is designed as a ‘Kit-of-parts’ in a CKD
format; A set of standardized and modular building
components put together to make a required Built-form.
‘Flat-Pack’ Delivery; Easy to Transport, lightweight to carry
Installation; is simple, anyone with skill sets of a carpenter
carrying basic tool-kit can assemble and install a building unit

9. Window of Opportunity – Go to Market
Habitat: Housing requirement in
Rural India stands at staggering 8-
12 million units.
Wonder Grass envisions To build 10,000
Houses
Sanitation: Access to safe and hygienic
sanitation in rural and tribal areas remains a
matter of concern in India.
Wonder Grass envisions to facilitate and build
100,000 sanitation units

10. ‘Shuchita’ – Sanitation units
• It is spacious, it gels well with the
surroundings and is aesthetically pleasing.
• The unit is naturally ventilated and well lit
throughout the day.
• The unit is independent and can e adapted
for any kind of waste-disposal system, like
Soak-pit, Septic Tank, Bio-digester.
• The unit can be adapted for Indian style
Closet or European style WC.

11. ‘Shuchita’ – Prototype in Progress
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Wonder Grass initiative Pvt. Ltd. 'Shuchita' - Sanitation Unit built with Bamboo

12. ‘Shuchita’ – Field Run;
Village Hidur, dist. Gadchiroli, Maharashtra
We have implemented
about 40-50 units of
‘Shuchita’ - sanitation
units so far, eg.
1. 4 units built in
Gadchiroli dist.
Maharashtra,
2. 16 units built in
Sitamarhi dist.
Northern Bihar
3. 10 units built in
Daang dist. Gujarat
The feedback from the end
user has been very positive
and encouraging. The users
have shown positive behavior
towards actual use.
Wonder Grass initiative P Ltd. 'Shuchita' - Sanitation unit; A Brief Overview July’ 2015

13. Incremental Housing Typology
• Built-form that can be expanded in phases.
• A ‘System’ approach that will help evolve a
standardized, modular and replicable
building components.
• Foundation / Plinth is conventional Brick &
Mortar.
• Integrating basic services of water (RWH),
Sanitation (Eco-san) and Light (Solar –
LED).
A Bamboo House: Housing Typology for Rural India

14. A Bamboo House: Design Details

15. Staff Housing for Teachers – Tribal School at Vankua, Gujrat
• A complete housing unit – Hall, Dining, Kitchen and
Bedroom with attached Toilet unit. .
• A house of about 600 Sq ft of Built-up Area, sustainable,
elegant

16. Staff Housing for Teachers – Tribal School at Vankua, Gujrat
The structure is built with Bamboo
as a principal material of
construction.
Integrate with material like
Terracotta tiles, Mud-mortar,
Cement-brick etc.

17. Bamboo Bridge - Bangalore

18. Bamboo Bridge - Bangalore

19. Bamboo Bridge - Bangalore

20. Thank You
email: vaibhav@wondergrass.in
phone: +91 9011019001

21. Inspiration
Vinoo Kaley - Bamboo Man
“Somehow Vinoo Kaley was much like his
favorite bamboo with great tensile strength in his inner
fiber and at once, delicate, supple and responsive to
nature. Vinoo was the breath in bamboo without which it
does not sing. The task is to keep that flute singing.”
(Prof. K T Ravindran, article in A+D)
Mobile: (+91) 92430 93363
Email: contact@wondergrass.in
Website: www.wondergrass.in
Blog: http://wondergrass.blogspot.com

22. Vaibhav has about 12 years of experience in designing
and implementing bamboo structures of various scales.
He has previously worked with BCIL, Bangalore as
senior architect after his post-graduate research in
urbanism from Bauhaus Germany. Vaibhav leads the
design and operations of the company. Previously, he
graduated with a degree in design from CEPT,
Ahmedabad
Over two decades experience in funding, investing, incubating and
starting small industry. - was among the first to raise venture
capital funds for the Indian IT industry way back in 1992, last
corporate assignment was with Polaris Software Lab. Ltd,
handling a suite of Risk Management Products for the banking
and the financial services sector and as Vice President; handled
M&A's, divestitures, incubations as well as internal process
monitoring. - Visiting Professor, IIMA teaching VC and Private
Equity courses. - Currently advises startups on scale-up and VC's
in value investing.
Wonder Grass – Team
Vaibhav Kaley,
Founder, CEO
Kannan N.
Co-Founder, Mentor
Project Team
Sandip Gadekar – Purchases, Administration at
Nagpur
Artisans: Team of 25 Artisans
Senior Artisans – almost 4 + years of experience in
building Bamboo Structures of various sizes.
Lady Artisans – No apprenticing to learn fabrication
After graduating from National Law University,
Gandhinagar in 2011 he has been practicing as a Lawyer at
Mumbai. He has handled various matters on the Civil and
Corporate front at various Courts at Mumbai, apart from
advising on varied legal issues. He is interested in the field
of Bamboo and in specific, aims to connect Bamboo to the
Hospitality sector.
Arvind V G
Legal Advisor
Wonder Grass initiative Pvt. Ltd. 'Shuchita' - Sanitation Unit built with Bamboo

23. Orissa has 1.05 million hectares of forest under bamboo-plantation.
Annual out-turn (yield) of air-dry bamboo in Orissa is estimated to be 0.25 million tones
Total bamboo available = 0.25 million tones
= 2,50,000 tones
Number of Bamboo poles per metric tone = 50 Poles of 5.5 meter
In case of Orissa
Bamboo Poles available for consumption = 2.5 Lakhs X 50
= 1.25 Crore Poles
If we commit only 20% of the bamboo for construction
Total available bamboo poles for housing = 12,500,000 X 20%
Bamboo poles for housing = 25 Lakhs Bamboo Poles
AS per our experience, we can safely assume 250 Bamboo Poles per housing unit
Housing units that can be built using committed bamboo-stock = 2,500,000 / 250
Bamboo: A Material for Future
A Case for Bamboo and its potential in Housing – Case study Orissa
Only 20% of Annual Bamboo yield in Orissa is enough to provide 1 Lakh Units