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Jumat, 18 Desember 2009

Competition: Padjajaran Pedestrian Path Renovation


Pedestrians in Indonesia are awfully treated these days. I guess the government just couldn't see that every human being has rights to walk safely and comfortably in public. The safety of public pedestrians are actually the responsibility of those PEOPLE in POSITIONS and POWER. Well, all we can do is hope for a better tomorrow. But better say too much than never say what we need to say.

This is a design we made to enter the SUD (Sustainable Urban Development) Competition. We didn't win though. The case of study is the Padjajaran Road in Bandung. This road is potential for developing pedestrian paths. There are numerous rapid housings leading to this road. The buildings facing this road are majorly governmental buildings. The most interesting subjects are the sightless housed by Wyata Guna, an organization coordinated by the governments Social Department. Also interesting to design is path facing the Sports Center called GOR (Gelanggang Olah Raga). This part of the path faces a soccerfield. A very nice view in this rapid city.

The basic design of the pedestrian path is to reorganize the positioning of the trees that are planted. The former positions are inconsiderately placed in the middle of the path. I really wonder why? (what the hell are in their heads!?) The specimen of tree picked is eucalyptus, or as we call it here "kayu putih". It's a beautiful tree with considerable radius. We also used "wayang suket" as a traditional element and bamboo as a natural element for the concept.

We did our parts on this design and I did the path facing the GOR. We designed decks facing the soccerfield. These decks can be used for viewing or resting. The decks are divided into upper decks and lower deck. The lower deck can be used for pedestrians also viewing the soccerfield while walking.

The upper decks are meant to be resting places where people can meet up and relax while viewing the soccerfield. These decks are also potential to be rented to local vendors selling local snacks like "gorengan", "cilok", "batagor", etc.



Temporary Shelter For Sumatera Victims


Recently I've been so lucky getting an internship at GENESIS, my admired Mr. Yu Sing's consultant. This is the first project he asked me to handle.

A simple design, voluntarily made for the victims of Sumatera Earthquake. The concept is to create temporary space. Usual temporary shelters are relatively narrow and poorly designed. The usual structures used are basicly of a triangle. What we did is improvising the shape of a triangle to a trapeze. The motive is to create space more comfortable for human height. This form is also a lot simpler than a regular house with wall-roof system. The trapeze is then expanded front to add more space for storage.


Also responding the context of "rumah sumatera" that is closely related to "rumah gadang", the trapeze is expanded to both sides. The expansion gives a more traditional effect to the design.


We used fiber cement as the main material of this design. The basic structure is made of bamboo. Gladly, I can say that this design will cost no more than Rp 2.000.000,00 to build. And it gives a 6m x 3m space for the victims. Hopefully this design helps. :)

Cihampelas: Sebuah Perjalanan Menuju Kota Urban

Bandung indah, Bandung hijau
Bandung gerah, Bandung kacau

Mungkin gambaran inilah yang dirasakan oleh warga setempat kota Bandung yang sehari-hari menemukan Bandung kian hari berubah menjadi “Jakarta kedua”. Dengan semakin maraknya penggusuran rumah-rumah, pembangunan-pembangunan pun banyak terjadi. Arah pembangunan semakin menunjang Bandung untuk menjadi kian komersil. Pusat-pusat lifestyle bermunculan di tengah-tengah keramaian kota ini. Warga kota Bandung juga tentunya tidak ingin ketinggalan untuk ikut “nongkrong” di tempat-tempat yang menentukan status dan kalangan mereka.


Sebutlah Jalan Cihampelas, sebuah jalan yang sangat populer bagi warga kota Bandung maupun bagi wisatawan-wisatawan dari berbagai daerah hingga Negara sejak tahun 1987. Jalan ini memiliki karakter yang begitu kuat dengan wajah warna-warni “superhero”-nya, hingga sampai saat ini, citranya masih dapat mewakili citra Kota Bandung secara keseluruhan. Beragam macam kegiatan pun dapat kita temukan pada jalan ini. Hal ini membuat Jalan Cihampelas menjadi begitu potensial akan perkembangan-perkembangan yang tiada batas.

Salah satu icon Jalan Cihampelas yang sukse dan terkenal adalah Cihampelas Walk, yang merupakan sebuah pusat lifestyle yang tergolong sukses. Dengan konsep walk yang hijau dan terbuka ini, Ciwalk berhasil mencuri perhatian warga kota Bandung, bahkan wisatawan dari berbagai daerah.

Kesuksesan pusat lifestyle ini akhirnya menghasilkan pengembangan Tahap II yang berjudul Ciwalk Extention (Cx) dengan Arsitek Denton Corker Marshall Indonesia. Proyek ini akan menjadikan ciwalk sebuah pusat perbelanjaan dan entertainment center, dilengkapi dengan boutique hotel dengan 128 kamar. Cx dapat kita kategorikan sebagai sebuah bangunan mixed-use, sebuah bangunan yang memiliki banyak fungsi dan penggunaan lahan. Bangunan-bangunan mixed-use lain yang sekategori dengan proyek Cx ini adalah Plaza Indonesia yang berada pada induk bangunan yang sama dengan Grand Hyatt dan ex di Jakarta. Pada bangunan itu terdapat fungsi dan penggunaan lahan yang berbeda-beda pada satu bangunan.

Berkembangnya bangunan mixed-use pada jalan ini merupakan salah satu gejala dari katalisasi urban. Katalisasi urban sendiri adalah perkembangan yang dihasilkan dari sebuah pengembangan kota, seringkali, perkembangan yang terjadi tidak terduga ke arah mana dan berdampak apa. Hal ini adalah sebuah fenomena yang dapat kita jadikan dasar pemahaman terhadap gejala-gejala yang dapat kita lihat pada Jalan Cihampelas, bermula pada tahun 1987 dengan munculnya toko IBC di Jalan Cihampelas no 114. Sesuai dengan teori tentang “Urban Catalyst” yang terdapat pada buku American Urban Architecture yang ditulis oleh Wayne Attoe, dengan mulai munculnya aktifitas komersial ini, kawasan permukiman Cihampelas perlahan berubah fungsi menjadi kawasan perdagangan dan wisata. Investor-investor pun melihat kesempatan strategis untuk menanamkan dananya pada jalan ini. Proyek dengan investasi cukup besar awalnya adalah Premier Plaza. Hal ini merupakan indikasi dari pembangunan urban yang memang berorientasi pada peningkatan nilai dan finansial.

Katalisasi urban sendiri pada dasarnya bukanlah suatu hal yang buruk. Sebuah proses katalisasi haruslah dapat memperkuat elemen yang telah ada atau malah mentransformasi elemen ke arah yang lebih baik. Dalam kasus Jalan Cihampelas, terjadi proses perubahan wajah atau fasade bangunan yang sangat ramai dan akhirnya memberi warna yang cerah pada kota Bandung. Lalu, karakteristik katalisasi urban yang lain juga haruslah memiliki reaksi yang tidak merusak konteksnya. Awalnya, sepanjang ruas Jalan Cihampelas yang komersial tidaklah mengubah perumahan di belakangnya yang merupakan konteks awal pada kawasan ini. Tetap ada gang-gang kecil menuju perumahan-perumahan yang padat dan hidup. Perumahan tersebut juga tidak terganggu oleh proses perdagangan yang malah semakin memberi kesempatan-kesempatan pada lingkungannya.

Namun perjalanan panjang jalan ini telah menuju pada katalisasi yang berikutnya. Sekarang ini katalisasi telah ditambah oleh unsur lifestyle hingga melahirkan Ciwalk dan proyek Cx. Dengan desain baru yang modern dan dinamis, Cx memang mencari jati dirinya yang baru. Tipologi bangunan mixed-use yang diambil oleh Cx juga merupakan usaha yang dilakukan untuk menangkap sekian banyak wisatawan yang dapat dijerat dengan usaha perhotelan. Usaha untuk menjadi berbeda dan unik ini adalah usaha untuk bertahan di dunia kreatif nan kapitalis di Bandung.

Ciwalk sebagai bangunan yang menyediakan entertainment dan leisure memang memiliki pasaran kalangan menengah ke atas yang cukup terbatas. Kalangan ini adalah masyarakat konsumtif yang memicu munculnya status sebagai tolak ukur kemasyarakatan. Hasil inilah yang muncul sebagai hasil dari komersialisme yang ada pada kawasan perumahan ini.

Perubahan pandangan akan kota Bandung inilah yang mulai merusak kekuatan karakter kota ini. Kini perubahan yang telah terjadi pada jalan yang ada sejak tahun 1906 ini telah memberi dampak yang sangat buruk pada fungsi awalnya. Tipologi bangunan mixed-use yang luas dan menyedot banyak kendaraan bermotor tidak lagi memperkuat elemen sebelumnya, tidak juga memberi transformasi ke arah yang lebih baik. Dengan munculnya elemen yang baru, elemen yang lama cenderung ditinggalkan. Meskipun konteks perumahan masih tetap bertahan pada kawasan ini, perbedaan yang mencolok antara rumah-rumah di sekitar dengan bangunan Ciwalk sendiri telah menjadi perkerasan akan timpangnya kesejahteraan masyarakat Bandung. Perang kapitalisme pada kota yang sebelumnya damai ini telah melahirkan maksud-maksud yang mulai menggerogoti esensi kota Bandung yang sebenarnya.

Sebuah katalisasi juga memiliki karakteristik lain yang harus menjadi perhatian kita semua. Semua reaksi katalisasi tidaklah sama. Hasil akhir dari pembangunan proyek Cx yang dilakukan kini tidak dapat kita duga. Seperti apa wajah kota Bandung nantinya, dengan semakin maraknya perkembangan budaya lifestyle yang memiliki latar belakang kapitalisme? Pertanyaan ini sudah seharusnya coba kita jawab dalam pemikiran masing-masing yang ditujukan untuk kota kita sendiri.

Cihampelas Walk yang demikian ramai dan sukses dimiliki oleh warga Bandung bahkan oleh para wisatawan, hendaknya jangan membutakan diri dari lingkungan sekitar, karena Ciwalk adalah sebuah tempat yang sangat berpotensi untuk memberi perbaikan pada Bandung melalui arsitektur. Alangkah indahnya apabila Bandung tidak menjadi “Jakarta kedua”, namun tidak juga berjalan di tempat dan terus menerus mengenang masa lalu. Betapa baiknya jika proyek Ciwalk Extention ini dapat memberi karakter pada Jalan Cihampelas yang baru dan menarik. Tentunya karakter jalan yang begitu kuat dan menarik ini dapat menjadi karakter sebuah kota yang terkenang dengan indah bagi semua warganya.

Sumber :

Wawancara dengan Public Relation Cihampelas Walk

Buku American Urban Architecture – Wayne Attoe

Buku Mixed Land Use

Senin, 21 September 2009

Review : MIMPI RUMAH MURAH

In the mood of buying a book? You should take a peek at this one. (I might sound promoting, but I'm not... I'm really criticizing right now... I just really like this book. Heehee.. ^ ^ )


As a reader and as an architect, I love this book so much.
Yu Sing is the best! :)

He shares his noble dream of providing richness of design at home, appreciating nature in housing design, also his doubts and moments of darkness in design. Very inspiring. I suggest you fellow bloggers to buy this book, architect or not. Even reading it with no interest in buildings is still great, Yu Sing has a talent in writing. He's very honest with his penmanship. Great buy! (It's very affordable folks! Unlike those extra-expensive architectural books with no direct connection to our daily-lives)

Cheers!

Minggu, 20 September 2009

Portfolio: RUMAH TINGGAL RAMAH NO. 27



Holidays are the best. Even better when you can produce something you've never had time to. Something like your procrastinated lame portfolio? Definitely yes. The second best thing is ArchiCAD. I've grown so used to this program I can't imagine my life without it. Thank you Graphisoft. (If I have enough money I promise I'll buy your genuine!) The third best thing should be ARTLANTIS. Sadly, the crack is somehow damaged. I'm really really sad. Thank God ArchiCAD's rendering engine is not so bad. :)



So, this house, what about it? This was my project back in my 2nd year. Those years when I thought architecture is so much fun. (Right now it's really tough, LOL). I really like this house. I like it even better than my final project. The house itself is located in Buah Batu Residences in Bandung. It's designed for a young Math Professor in ITB. He's a young lecturer with kids in elementary school and an also working wife. They're a good catholic family who loves to throw events in the house, probably birthday parties, weekly community prayers, etc. That's why the word "friendly" comes to mind.


First floor

Second floor

As you can see in the floor plans in the up there, this house has an inner court surrounded by functional rooms. The inner court is implemented to create an open atmosphere while in the same time, optimizes the use of natural sunlight. The court connects to the garage and the dining room so that events can be held in these rooms at the same time. This inner court is also meant to stimulate interactions of the family inside the house. The goal is for the family to feel each other's presence all the time whenever they are outside their own rooms.

Perspective section viewing the inner court, guest room, and living room

Perspective sections viewing rooms around the inner court


Below are perspectives of house's interior. All the rooms are connected to the inner court.







Thank you for viewing folks! Hope you enjoyed it! Forgive my lame renderings... :) Cheers!



Selasa, 27 Januari 2009

Acculturation : REASON TO ACCEPT DIFFERENCES

The basic reason for acculturation is simply functional. 

Let's see the photos below
 


















These are pictures I took on "Pameran Warisan Tiong Hoa Peranakan Indonesia" at Bentara Budaya, Jakarta on January 25 2009, a day before the dated lunar new year. It was an amazing exhibition with various antiques back from the past.

The first picture are oyster skins planted on Djati Wood. A classic ornament from the Peranakan Chinese of Indonesia. This ornament is a result from search of the most functional material found in the land to create the most beautiful object. These kinds of ornaments are nowhere to be found in the Mainland Chinese culture.

While the other picture shows the instruments for playing the legendary GAMBANG KROMONG, the unique music that results from certain acculturation. These instruments have strong Javanese, Sumatranese, and Balinese effect, containing a Gong, Gamelan, etc. It's very amazing how chinese music can be acculturated through these Indonesian instruments.

Furnitures speak all of how humans behaves day-by-day. Those displayed in the exhibition has a strong sense of chinese, take a look at these photos.





The picture in the upper-left is called a cuiho. The word is rootly a name of a production company in China, Jui Ho. Right now it is simply a metonym. The tradition that lives within this cupboard is very emotional. It is known to be given to newly weds by their parents as a blessing. The upper-right is an opium seat and the last one is an altar for praying to the deceased. These original chinese culture lives through the Chinese Peranakan of Indonesia. But still, acculturation makes its way through these antiques. The carvings of each furniture have very bold characters of Javanese artists. The methods and materials are no longer China original.

This concludes to a statement, the Chinese Peranakan of Indonesia are not alike its origins. Too many elements of culture have been modified aligning to its efficiency. Compromises are made and slightly different objects are created. It's very interesting seeing Chinese culture trying to assimilate and adjust to changes in order to live in harmony and balance in the land they occupy. Yet the gap between still lingers.

The Chinese Peranakan today in Indonesia are still in question of their nationalism. It is said to be natural for Chinese born to exclude themselves from national activities because they don't belong. And on the other side, Indonesian originals tend to simplify the difference to "Pribumi" and "Cina". This is a never ending story. By bolding the boxes that exist from false pride and principals, both sides will never gain harmony over each other.

The exhibition tells it all. How we can keep our traditional customs, yet still try to merge the differences and never try to push too hard on meaningless grudge against each other. By creating harmony, peace can be achieved.

Minggu, 25 Januari 2009

The "TAMAN MENTENG" Today

The building of Taman Menteng back in 2006 was full of controversy. But as time goes by, the former Stadion Menteng has now been officially known as Taman Menteng.


Parks are symbols of well-sustained planning in a city. That is why the birth of this green area had given hope to the citizens of Jakarta, the over-crowded city. This multi-functional park has various activites offered to people. Communities can interact through sports like basketball, soccer, skateboarding, bicycling, etc; organizing a small orchestra; implementing an exhibition; or just simply take a walk and enjoy the breeze for a while. The whole concept of this park was so well-thought that it results to a modern and lively public space.


But a year after, I took a second trip to this park and it was way different than how it had been years ago. The difference was not in the activities, but more in the maintenance and caring for this place by the whole community. Vandalism started spreading to various places in this park. Graffitis are all over the place starting from the flower beds, the walls, even the trash cans. It also became harder for cleaning service to cover their job since people don't seem to care of their own trash.


These symptomps are gained over a quick observation by the writer on January 25, 2009 early in the morning. I cannot imagine other possible inappropriateness occuring in this high-aimed public park. The people whom we want to give our contribution to seemed not ready in so many ways.


This continues to another issue. In college I learned a lot about the negativities of commercial private open spaces that are missjugded as a public space. The issue is about gaining profit by immitating the functions of public spaces. This phenomenon creates a huge gap between people who can afford being in this space and people who couldn't. It is said to cause more flaw in our social conditions.

But seeing how people treat the spaces that are voluntarily given to them, rises a thought. No wonder affording people tend to exclude themselves from social-intented spaces. The logic-gap of caring and maintaining is a very strong factor for exclusivism. Senses of possesing creates a certain behaviour that makes us care. Without it, we can easily let it be destroyed.


Before planning a beautiful hope of a city. It's better to reflect on how every social layer of people in Jakarta might react to the concept.


Before asking for your own rights, it's always necessary to check whether you have done your responsibilities.