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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2008

  • Work on this object began.

2011

  • Work on this object ended.

2016

2025

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Bamboo (Tacuara) Loofah Panels

This is a Project. It was designed by Elsa Zaldívar. It is dated 2008–11. Its medium is bamboo, crushed loofah, cassava starch waste, sand, water, castor oil, baba de tuna.

Scrap metals, wood, and other found materials are often used to make dwellings in informal settlements, resulting in homes that are unsafe and precarious. In Paraguay, Elsa María Zaldívar Rolón develops building materials made from raw materials including crushed loofah, cassava starch waste, sand, water, and castor oil, which are mixed together and applied to a bamboo panel. Baba de tuna, a gelled material created from soaking tuna in water for three days, creates a waterproof bond on the outside of homes. The building panels provide better thermal insulation and acoustic quality than materials typically used, and the raw materials are incredibly low-cost and environmentally sustainable.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420778893/ |title=Bamboo (Tacuara) Loofah Panels |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>