Innehållsförteckning för #18 från Design Anthology, Asia Pacific Edition

When Balinese architect Popo Danes vowed never to build over the island’s centuries-old rice fields, he instantly halved his site options. ‘It’s very rare that I get the opportunity to design on a flat site,’ he says. ‘More often, I work with rough terrain and river valleys.’ Built on a 45-degree slope and suspended over the Ayung River Gorge, Hanging Gardens of Bali is a shining page in the designer’s portfolio. The award-winning Ubud resort was conceived in 2003 and completed in 2005 with the aim of creating ‘something magical in the heart of the Balinese jungle’. Coconut palms, cacao trees and clumps of bamboo grow amid the retreat’s 44 villas, each fitted out with a private infinity pool overlooking the valley or Pura Dalem Segara Madhu temple. Thanks to…

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. When it comes to design duo Stephanie and David Getty of Studio Getty, an appreciation for fine craftsmanship and raw aesthetics certainly runs deep in their family. ‘My sister Nathalia approached us to curate a family house in Jakarta for her and her husband Francis, as well as their three young children,’ explains Stephanie. ‘And we were able to use our father’s woodworking shop just outside Jakarta to mill all the flooring and trims.’ Among a large housing complex, the stately red-brick structure is comprised of two newly established volumes, the result of a year’s study in Finland by David and an attending admiration for Alvar Aalto’s brickwork in university campus buildings. While red brick is commonly used as infill and plaster…

For 200 years, Jakarta has grown without the worry of running out of space into which to expand. Initially, European populations moved away from the malaria-infested canals of the city centre, encroaching on the sparsely populated outer areas. Villas surrounded by spacious, well-shaded gardens began cropping up across the city. Eventually, a massive modern urban expansion into the southern hinterland began. But every urban sprawl has its limits. While urbanisation followed economic opportunities, urban planning efforts could not keep up with the population explosion, resulting in a severe lack of housing. Now, with a population of more than 10 million in the urban core, which sits at the centre of the second-largest metro area agglomeration in the world, central Jakarta has become denser than urban Mexico City and Tokyo. The…

The name Jakarta is enough to send you grinding to a halt if you’ve ever visited — and perhaps also if you haven’t. Indonesia’s chaotic first city is like an obese teenager with clogged arteries who continues to stuff in the Big Macs; indeed, the capital’s traffic jams threaten its very survival. Around ten million cars and motorbikes fight for street space in the city, and as citizens cram in another 800,000 each year, vehicles are invading what’s left of the pavements, too. Motorcyclists weave in and out between street vendors, belching exhaust fumes over food stalls, creating a noxious blend of carbon monoxide, turmeric and clove cigarettes. It’s a smell I could recognise anywhere as undeniably Jakarta. And it’s among the many reasons that Indonesia’s capital is not a…

Reddie, Sydney Young Australian-Indonesian couple Caroline and Andrew Olah founded Reddie during a stint in Hong Kong after years of not being able to find high-quality, well-priced furniture. Fuelled by this frustration, they went back to their semi-Indonesian roots to produce this collection. Everything is handmade by fifth-generation craftspeople with wood ethically sourced from government-certified plantations. The young business just added outdoor furniture to its collection and opened its first permanent showroom in Sydney. reddie.com.au Jardan, Perth Since 1987, Jardan has become synonymous with good Australian design, producing a range of furniture and lighting in its Melbourne facility. Its new trade showroom in Perth is located on the western side of the city in a mid-century Australian architectural landmark that once housed the iconic Skinner Gallery. Furniture is displayed in…

How many design briefs begin with an honest, unpretentious aim that is anything but overdone? 7 Speed Coffee, named for seven bicycle-enthusiast friends, began with that very premise. It’s an easy, laid-back spot in Kemang Utara with a fun, skater-slash-biker approach to the decor. The concrete floors paired with white walls could have been austere, but one of the owners, designer Eko Priharseno, chose long, plywood bench seating across the back of the shop with scattered cushions to keep the surroundings casual and comfortable. Stacks of books sit alongside cacti and other plants, with light wood accents further downplaying any seriousness. The skate decks incorporated into the coffee bar’s pour-over design provide a playful touch, plus there’s a full-sized bicycle that serves as the shop’s primary piece of art. For…

These days, most guests at luxury resorts are willing to foot some additional cost for environmental sustainability. All too often, however, it falls to them to take the proactive role, for instance by remembering to place a card on the bed to indicate linen should not be changed. Meanwhile, little is said of the single-use plastic water bottles scattered throughout the room or the energy-inefficient air conditioning. But even as luxury hotels are increasingly trumpeting their eco-friendly credentials, as hotel and resort architect Gaurang Khemka points out, ‘It’s the mid-tier resorts that struggle to implement eco-sensitive design and operations, as they’re unable to justify these commercially.’ In this context, recent years have seen a generation of smaller boutique resorts make a splash on the hospitality scene. They are genuinely proactive…

The physical landscape of Indonesia is dominated by volcanoes — there are more than 400, 129 of which remain active, and half of these are monitored continuously for activity. The chain of volcanoes in the Sunda Islands from Sumatra running East through Java, Bali and Timor lie on the southwestern edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the collision of several tectonic plates makes for one of the world’s most volatile volcanic regions. In 1815, Mount Tambora on Sumbawa island erupted in the most explosive volcanic event recorded, causing what became known as the ‘year without summer’ in 1816. This was eclipsed when the best-known of Indonesia’s volcanoes, Krakatoa, in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, erupted cataclysmically in 1883 with global ramifications. More recently, in 2010, Mount…

Indonesia has a natural penchant for the visual arts. Its dramatic history and colourful mix of cultures and craftsmanship has nourished a multitude of contemporary artists over the years. Backed by auction houses, the local art market soared until it crashed in 2008 with the global economy, indirectly weeding out speculators and leaving only the most dedicated art connoisseurs to re-energise the industry and support its talent. These enduring, inspiring individuals include driven curator Alia Swastika, unconventional collector Natasha Sidharta and gallerist Jun Tirtadji, who is particularly mindful of young artists. Delving into their work paints a broad picture of the art scene in Indonesia today. ALIA SWASTIKA CURATOR Swastika is one of Indonesia’s most indefatigable and in-demand cultural agents. Last autumn, she curated four exhibitions for the Belgian arts…

Sometimes creating something new requires looking backward. In a region like South East Asia, where folks have lived amid tropical humidity for generations, building a considered, thoughtful house calls for acknowledging the vernacular — after all, the local architecture has evolved to create homes that mitigate the climate. Such was the inspiration for a Jakarta project by d-associates. The brief put forward by the owners, a couple in their 70s, was that of a serene house, a sanctuary in the heart of the city, which was somewhat at odds with the busy location. The clients also wanted the house to be their last, adding the biggest challenge of all. Maria Rosantina and Gregorius Supie Yolodi, founders of d-associates, decided to address the context of the site, the climate and the…

Moving back to Indonesia after living in the United States for 12 years was a considerable change for Tamara Wibowo. After studying in Minnesota, Wibowo worked for a few years and started a family in the US before feeling the need to return home with her husband and their three young children. ‘It took a lot of adjustments, not just culturally but also to adapt to the weather,’ she says. ‘Minnesota gets three months of summer, while in Indonesia it’s summer all year long.’ Ready to settle down in Semarang — a city on the north coast of the island of Java — the four other members of the family gave Wibowo carte blanche to create a refuge that would match their lifestyle in a entirely new environment. Imbued with…

Kayunara Living Jakarta-based interior architect Tony Sofian first launched the Kayunara brand of furniture as a way to explore a contemporary Indonesian design language. Following the brand’s first designs, the new collection was launched at the 2018 CASA Indonesia design and lifestyle exhibition. Each of the 12 new pieces, including the Agata chair (seen left), pushes the boundaries of the oft-cliched East-meets-West aesthetic and is handmade from locally sourced hardwoods and customisable upholstery. tsds.co.id  / kayunara.com Gabriel Scott One of the latest lighting collections by Gabriel Scott, the Myriad series is inspired by bioluminescent organisms found in nature. The backgrounds in architecture, industrial and jewellery design of duo founders Gabriel Kakon and Scott Richler are evident in these new pieces, where each hand-blown glass lamp is reminiscent of a gemstone.…

Ovolo Inchcolm — Brisbane Conveniently located in Spring Hill at the edge of Brisbane’s CBD, the new Ovolo Inchcolm is the perfect base in the Sunshine State capital. The original building dates back to the early 20th century, when it was the residence of a distinguished polymath. HASSELL spearheaded the renovation, granting the feel of a decadent Parisian salon. You’ll find it difficult to go past reception — which also serves as the bar and backdrop to nightly happy hour — and not stop for a drink. RYSE — Seoul London-based Michaelis Boyd and SCAAA have teamed up to design this building in the creative neighbourhood Hongdae, creating the interior and exterior respectively. RYSE, a member of the Autograph Collection, is a new lifestyle hub that has successfully incorporated retail…

If, as Mark Twain said, ‘Climate is what we expect. Weather is what we get,’ then architecture should be the antidote to these unmet expectations — something that can be relied upon in uncertain weather. We might not be able to ask nature to change, but we, as humans, can adapt. Indonesian architect Andra Matin has pushed for the weather to be an integral part of the local living experience. The tropical climate means a fairly constant warm to hot temperature, though the rainfall and humidity are more variable. But it is not always easy for Matin to convince clients to agree with his concept when nature — especially in high-density urban areas — is most commonly regarded as a threat. Preoccupied with the idea of spending more time outside…

Brutalist concrete edifices juxtaposed with raw nature are enjoying a new wave of worldwide appreciation, but a more natural approach can result in an aesthetic that’s just as striking. The Tree House by mamostudio, tucked away in a tree-filled corner in the Tanah Teduh housing complex, is a case in point. Situated in Pejaten — a budding commercial district in South Jakarta — Tanah Teduh is the brainchild of PTT Family, and is a contemporary residential estate encompassing the work of nine architects. The Tree House stands out as the project’s only timber-clad property, where its dominant materials are obtained locally from renewable sources. ‘We avoid using forest wood because the country is filled with unsustainable and illegal logging practices,’ says Adi Purnomo, principal of mamostudio. ‘We opt for plantation…

In 1920, the Bandung Institute of Technology — then known as Indische Technische Hogeschool (‘Indies Technical College’) — opened its doors in Bandung, Indonesia, with a student body of 26, 19 of whom were Dutch, and five professors who had relocated from the Netherlands specifically to teach at the new school. The Netherlands’ second technical college, it opened 120 years after the Dutch colonial government was established in the country. Though it would eventually be acquired by the colonial government in 1928, changing its name to Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng, it was initially opened as a private rather than a government-run school. Opening such a school was not easy, considering the funds, curriculum and other resources required. Its establishment prompts an obvious question: why open a technical college in Indonesia,…

In what may be a surprising fact to many, Indonesia boasts more than 150 architecture schools, second only to Japan in Asia, and more than half of the students are women. One of the best-known female architects in the country, Tri Rismaharini, now serves as the eco-pioneering mayor of Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya. Yet among recognised avant-garde practitioners, women remain vanishingly scarce. Three that buck this trend do so in part because of nontraditional partnerships. Wendy Djuhara heads the practice djuhara + djuhara with her husband Ahmad, now president of the Indonesian Institute of Architects. As Ahmad champions the country’s architects on a global stage, Wendy is the design leader within their studio. Though their commissions tilt towards the familial — a series of subtle homes culminating most recently in…