Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Photo by Nadav Kander in China




Jawbone Jambox wireless speaker/phone by fuse project


Jawbone dan Fuseproject, perancang sekaligus pembuat
Jawbone bluetooth headset mengumumkan satu produk baru
wireless speaker dan speaker pintar
yang pertama di dunia.






via mocoloco: http://mocoloco.com/archives/019826.php

Book review: "Ahmett Salina House and Studio" at The New Indonesian House by Robert Powell

The Ahmett Salina and Studio continues a long tradition in Southeast Asia working from home, a sustainable practice that reduces transport costs and the use of non-renewable resources.

The owners of the house are both graphic designers

who required a small office/design studio to be integrated with their dwelling.

The dialogue between the living and working areas is the essential driver of the brief.

To preserve the privacy of the domestic area, vertical and horizontal zoning is introduced. The ground floor is designated as the working are/design studio and the upper floor as the living quarters for a small family.

There is also a private area for the owners at the rear of the building.

The front of the house, which overlook a small landscape public park,

is designated the public zone.

The “big idea” in the design is the horizontally hinged opening screen on the public façade, which allows the whole of the home-office to be opened up to the forecourt to create a huge indoor/outdoor space for social functions and academic events.

The screen incorporates a “breathing skin” of cut bamboo sections,

assembled without nails that project out from a steel frame.

This is an inspired climatic responses employing sustainable material.

Conceptually, the screen is seen as having “pores” that allow the house to breathe.

Sunlight is filtered by the screen so that the internal temperature is lowered.

The area between the screen and the house is used as a veranda and smoking area.

Pradono is a passionate advocate of the use of bamboo, and other work by his practice exploring the use of this material has been published in international journals.


The finished dwelling is vulgar but is perfectly comfortable
and it is an affordable replicable model for other young business partners.
The ground floor is slightly cluttered with all the paraphernalia of a modern office-glass-topped worktable,
a cluster of apple Macintosh computers, a designer bicycle,
the ubiquitous water dispenser and a customer/client reception area-together with a neon sign building staff and visitors to “change yourself”. An open-riser staircase with cantilevered treads leads to the private zone, while the living and working spaces are visually connected by a void alongside the stairs.....



This book is written by Robert Powell and photographs by Albert Lim

by Tuttle Publishing available at Periplus

ISBN: 9780794604998

AA house in the New Indonesian House by Robert Powell


Pradono describes his practice as “a research-based architectural firm that engages with changing lifestyle in the twenty-first century”.

At the time of the author’s visit, Pradono had just returned from “Open City : Designing Coexistence”, an International Architecture Biennale Organized by the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI), Where he had exhibited his research on the relationship between the gated settlement and the kampong and had examined the shift from culture of “the street” to on of “the car and the mall”. The architect in interested in ways of overcoming the inequalities in society and designing for coexistence by creating metaphorical “holes” in the walls surrounding gated settlements.

Explaining the design process, Pradono refers to the “Programatic negotiation” necessary in the program

became the fundamental factor in the design evolution.

Conflict between various requirements and interests had to be resolved and this was done with the use of glass sliding doors to separate funcitions or unify the space.

The sliding glass screens and solid walls are arranged around a central void that acts as a mediator.

The void separates various space programs, yet permits them to be combined.

The combinet space can be used for family gatherings or communal prayers.

The form and the façade treatment are the outcome of the programmatic fragmentation.

A timber-floored deck leads to the central void.

Which has a reflection pool flanked by the living area, dining area and the dry kitchen.

Conventional, the driver’s room, maidspace and kitchen are located at the rear of the house, accessed by the one-meter-wide staircase on the right flank of the house that bypasses the reception rooms.

From the living room, a concealed staircase ascends to the second floor,

where some of the high-ceilinged bedrooms revive memories of a kampong dwelling with mattresses on raised platforms. From the second floor, a narrow circular stairscase extends up to a roof garden.

The plan and section of the house create an incredibly well-lit interior,

with very good natural ventilation, but one that is simultaneously private and gives little indication of its openness when viewed from the street.

This book is written by Robert Powell and photographs by Albert Lim

by Tuttle Publishing available at Periplus

ISBN: 9780794604998

Singapore University of Technology and Design by UNstudio

amsterdam-based practice UNstudio has been selected from a shortlist of five practices
to design a plot of the singapore university of technology and design (SUTD). the school,
which was designed in collaboration with singaporean office dp architects, will be a driver
of technological innovation and economic growth. the campus space intends to become
a common platform to bring together people, ideas, and innovation.


the design of the SUTD utilizes a cross-disciplinary interface to maximize the interaction
between the different curriculums, the campus, the professional world, and the community
at large. using a network of horizontal, vertical and diagonal vistas within the double quadrant
organization, the campus enables professors, students and faculty members to see, meet and
communicate with each other at crossing points.


the campus also aims to achieve the highest green mark rating available in singapore which is
a platinum rating. throughout the preliminary designing process of the project, issues such as
building orientation, building depth in relation to sun and wind exposure, incorporation of
natural ventilation and daylighting were all considered.

project info:

building surface: (phase I) 88,000 m2, (phase II) 125,000 m2, (total) 213, 000 m2
building volume: (phase I) 422,400 m3, (phase II) 600,000 m3, (total) 1,022,400 m3
building site: 76, 846 m2
program: university campus
status: competition

UNstudio team: ben van berkel, caroline bos, astrid piber with christian veddeler,
jordan trachtenberg and ren horng yee, adi utama, jeff johnson, melissa lui

DPA team: chan sui him, teoh hai pin, jeremy tan, seah chee huang, wykeith ng,
liew kok fong, wang ying, yeong weng fai, jaye tan

structural consultant:
arup singapore pte ltd
primary cost analysis: KPK quantity surveyors (singapore) pte ltd

Taken from www.designboom.com

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/12319/unstudio-singapore-university-of-technology-and-design.html



Masdar City Center by LAVA

Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) have won a competition to design the urban centre of Masdar, a zero-carbon, zero-waste city , world’s first sustainable city to be built in the desert near Abu Dhabi

The centre will feature giant moveable sunshades based on sunflowers (above) that shade a public piazza, plus hotels, retail and leisure facilities.


Masdar, which will cover 6 million square metres when complete, is based on the urban layout of ancient walled cities and aims to provide a blueprint for sustainable urban development.


The ‘sunflower umbrellas’ are one aspect of the winning design by the international practice Laboratory for Visionary Architecture [LAVA] for the city centre for Masdar in the UAE – the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste city powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

Masdar is a planned city located 17 kilometres from Abu Dhabi. A government initiative, the city is being constructed over seven phases and is due to be completed by 2016.

The city centre includes a plaza, five-star hotel, long stay hotel, a convention centre and entertainment complex and retail facilities.

LAVA won the design in an international competition against several hundred entries and strong competition from some of the world’s most high profile architects.

LAVA was founded in 2007 by Chris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser and Alexander Rieck and has offices in Sydney, Stuttgart and Abu Dhabi.

Chris Bosse said: ‘Masdar City is the world’s most prestigious project focusing on sustainable energy design. It is the city of the future and a global benchmark for sustainable urban development. We believe in the Masdar slogan “One day all cities will be like this”’.

The solar powered ‘sunflower’ umbrellas capture the sun’s rays during the day, fold at night releasing the stored heat, and open again the next day. They follow the projection of the sun to provide continuous shade during the day.

Mr. Bosse said: ‘the sunflower principle is eco-friendly and can be adapted to anywhere in the world – it opens opportunities for outside living, even in the desert’.

Mr Rieck added: ‘The entire city is car-free with a magnetic public transport system includes individual pods that drive you to your destination using solar power’.

Budi pradono's Architecture by Rifky Effendy

Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 – 1959)

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

Philip Johnson (1906 - 2005)

What is architecture to the contemporary life of man? Is architecture nothing than just a question of spatial aesthetics or is it beyond that, a consistently growing organism, embracing more and more human activities into it; social, cultural, economic? Or, does architecture create a “rupture,” a line of spaces which are isolated from cultural locales, forming insulating social or economic walls, thus cutting a man’s life off the nature? Can architecture make a man of a man?

An example of rupture in architecture is the space we live in, in which people with “modern tradition” perform their activities individually or together with the other family members in a private sphere, and then out they meet their neighbors, or street vendors. Throughout life, we are trapped in the same old routines, because we live in a big city overcrowded with office blocks, malls, apartments, apartment-malls, try to find a crevice amidst super busy traffic in the streets, pass commercial and business districts, classy housing complexes, middle class housing complexes and slumps, state official housing complexes, expatriate areas, cozy places, and so on. It’s not every day that you wake up smelling the fresh morning air breezing from tea plantation or the sea.

Yes, you can have your own forest by hiring an architect and pay a great fortune to buy the land, but you can never get away from the claws of the city. This is where rupture matters, because architecture, while intended for individual enjoyment, can also be an organization of mass spaces. In this case, an accomplished architect must be more than one who makes trendy, classy and expensive buildings, which bring him/her to fame and more and more projects. An accomplished architect is one with a concept of future life.

Is this called utopia? Now, there are local government policies, capitalists’ understanding and interests, amidst mounts of issues Indonesian architectures face. Well, it takes an imaginative gut to be utopian, a critical view, “madness,” and sometimes guerrilla wars and lots of material sacrifices.

***

Architect like Budi Pradono to me is in the verge of becoming an utopist, well, at least for an Indonesian architect. As utopian as he might be, some of his works are just realizable, as residence and semi public spaces. Pradono and his Budi Pradono Architecture (BPA) team have participated in a number of international architecture competitions. When I visited his studio the other day, Budi Pradono was preparing to realize a public space project in Taiwan. His works account for personal, environmental, and local material aspects, in addition to boasting advant garde architectural styles. Among his works is Irwan Ahmet’s residence, a graphic designer at Pasar Minggu, Jakarta. Pradono uses bamboo for the façade and air circulation function. Another astonishing fact is that the house was completed in a very short time and highly cost efficient.

Pradono always embarks on international journeys, to present his designs, attend workshops, or make cultural observations in Italia, Germany, Swiss, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, or the United States. Now, to me he is as busy as Heri Dono, so I guess it is safe for me to say that Pradono is one of the young architects with sound international experiences.

Pradono regularly makes public presentations through exhibitions, which highlight his concepts and designs, one important step that most architects in Indonesia are not apt to do. It is essentially important to broaden his critical thoughts through interactions with other architects, students, or future stakeholders. Interactions lead to new thoughts and broaden one’s perspective. Interactions will increase an architect’s awareness of so many aspects. Naturally, thus, his works are covered in many books and magazines, national and international.

Critically, Budi Pradono’s designs account for so many things in architecture. In addition to individual, socio-cultural, and artistic and aesthetic values, his works cover economic and environmental aspects too. Pradono highly values and is always involved in the designing process. He values the time he spends with his team, to try new things and explore new possibilities of development. He writes: Programs must be re-questioned, new materials retried, and conventional functional typologies debated for the sake of more sustainable designs (2009:18).

This process leads to a critical awareness of the designing and he tests it through a series of international competitions. In realizing new designing concepts, negotiations will have to be made with many stakeholders, as naturally, different political and capital interests are involved in the designing process. To him, these negotiations are just part of a dynamic.

In introducing his concepts, he writes, “Observing the law, dealing with functional programming, material explorations, combinations or compositions of different materials which all lead to the desired end result, not only in terms of the quality of physical space, are the true implementation of an architectural concept which involves both tug of war games and negotiations with end-clients who of course have their own specific criteria for each space. We have to translate end user’s pragmatic specification aesthetically to produce a beautiful, unique, and personal artistic composition.”

***

An architect’s work must not succumb to trends or economic urges. It has to account for imaginative and artistic elements which may originate from either local or global references as well as other elements which represent the values of men and culture, as an eclectic and hybrid form. Many current environmental and socio-cultural issues in the world of architecture are the results of the policies and general paradigm of people. The world of architecture is therefore challenged to create a social life which is aware and sensitive enough to socio-cultural and environmental issues surrounding it. This applies equally to residential, office, apartment, and mall architectural designs and so on. It takes an intellectual courage to enter negotiations with stakeholders towards environmental improvement and future life. In the absence of strong and clear long-termed regulations, especially on urban agglomeration in Indonesia, cultural richness and diversity and the potential development of raw materials and technologies will be wasted.

Budi Pradono’s works I think promise us a hope of architecture with a better vision of the future. In fact, the changes we dream always start at the micro level, us as individuals and then the society and finally the whole world. Then, there is no such thing as utopia.

(Rifky Effendy, art Curator)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

ARSITEKTUR Budi Pradono, oleh Rifky Effendy


Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 – 1959)

Architecture is the art of how to waste space.

Philip Johnson (1906 - 2005)

Apa sebenarnya makna suatu aritektur bagi kehidupan manusia kontemporer ? Apakah arsitektur itu melulu persoalan estetika ruang atau lebih jauh, merupakan organisme yang makin lama makin membesar, dimana ada banyak aktifitas manusia didalamnya; sosial, budaya dan ekonomi ? Ataukah arsitektur juga menciptakan sebuah 'rupture', sebagai untaian ruang yang terputus dengan lokal-lokal budaya, membentuk pagar-pagar sosial yang memisahkan, atau munculnya sekat-sekat ekonomi, dimana berbagai kehidupan manusia digolongkan, dikategorikan bahkan dengan diputuskan jauh dari alam ? Bisakah arsitektur memanusiakan manusianya?

Contoh yang bisa langsung kita rasakan pada makna rupture dalam ruang atau arsitektur adalah ruangan yang kita hidupi, dimana manusia dengan “tradisi modern” beraktifitas secara individu atau bersama anggota keluarga dalam ruang privat , kemudian berpapasan dengan tetangga, tukang sayur dan pedagang makanan keliling. Lalu selama hidup, kita hanya mengalami rutinitas dan ritual itu terus – menerus, karena kita yang hidup dikota besar dikelilingi di blok-blok perkantoran, mal-mal, apartemen, apartemen – mall, mengarungi kepadatan lalu-lintas jalan raya, daerah atau distrik perdagangan dan bisnis, perumahan mewah, menengah dan kumuh, perumahan pejabat, daerah ekspat, tempat-tempat 'cozy', dan seterusnya. Anda yang beruntung bisa menikmati hijaunya kebun teh saat bangun tidur atau birunya pantai, sesekali saja.

Tentu anda bisa saja menciptakan hutan sendiri dengan menyewa seorang arsitek dan membayar luas tanah cukup mahal, tapi anda tak bisa benar-benar lolos dari kungkungan ruang-ruang kota. Disinilah rupture bisa terjadi, karena makna arsitektur, selain secara sederhana hanya dirasakan individual tapi juga menjadi organisasi dengan ruang – ruang yang massal. Sehingga memang tak mungkin bisa dikatakan seorang arsitek sukses hanya karena ia hanya sebagai perancang suatu bangunan yang bagus, mewah dan mahal , trendy, menjadi terkenal atau banyak menerima pesanan saja. Tapi suatu konsep menuju kehidupan dimasa depan .

Apakah hal seperti itu bisa disebut utopia? Apalagi ketika dihadapkan pada kebijakan-kebijakan pemerintah lokal maupun pemahaman dan selera para pemilik modal, seperti yang dihadapi praktisi arsitektur di Indonesia. Tapi menjadi utopis saja, tampaknya perlu sebuah keberanian imajinasi, selalu kritis, 'kegilaan', bahkan seringkali penuh pengorbanan waktu bergerilya dan menghabiskan materi pula.

***

Arsitek seperti Budi Pradono buat saya tampaknya seorang sosok arsitek yang cenderung mengarah nyaris seperti utopis, minimal untuk ukuran arsitek di Indonesia. Walaupun begitu beberapa karyanya bisa direalisasikan, walaupun dalam bentukan rumah tinggal dan semi ruang publik. Pradono dengan tim Budi Pradono Arsitektur (BPA) beberapa kali mengikuti berbagai kompetisi arsitektur internasional. Ketika bertemu di studionya, Pradono tengah bersiap untuk merealisasi satu proyek ruang publik di Taiwan. Karya-karyanya banyak mempertimbangkan aspek personal, lingkungan dan pengolahan materi lokal , selain mengembangkan gaya arsitektur mutakhir. Salah satu hasil rancangannya adalah rumah tinggal Irwan Ahmett, seorang perancang grafis di daerah Pasar Minggu, Jakarta. Pradono menggunakan materi bambu untuk membuat artistik perwajahan bagian depan rumah, selain berfungsi sebagai sirkulasi udara . Hal lainnya, rumah tersebut ternyata dibangun dengan waktu cukup singkat dan biaya yang lebih rendah.

Kesibukan lain dari sosok Pradono adalah melakukan perjalanan-perjalanan internasional, apakah untuk melakukan presentasi – presentasi hasil rancangannya, loka-karya, maupun melakukan pengamatan-pengamatan budaya, mulai dari Italia, Jerman, Swiss, Jepang, Hongkong, Singapura hingga Amerika. Mungkin saya bisa membandingkan kesibukannya dengan sosok seniman Heri Dono, sehingga tak berlebihan jika Pradono salah satu arsitek muda yang sarat pengalaman internasional.

Hal yang penting dan jarang dilakukan oleh arsitek disini, adalah Pradono secara berkala melakukan presentasi pada publik dengan bentuk pameran yang meliputi konsep-konsep dan rancangan – rancangannya. Hal ini penting untuk membuka pemikiran kritis melalui interaksi dengan para arsitek lain, mahasiswa maupun calon stake-holder. Berkomunikasi dan membuka peluang membuka bagi pemikiran-pemikiran baru dan berwawasan luas, menjadikan seorang arsitek dengan kesadaran terhadap berbagai aspeknya. Tak heran , hasil rancangannya masuk dalam berbagai buku dan majalah, baik nasional maupun secara internasional.

Rancangan-rancangan Budi Pradono, secara kritis mempertimbangkan berbagai hal dalam berarsitektur, selain nilai individu dan sosial – budaya, nilai artistik dan estetik , juga dengan aspek ekonomi dan lingkungan. Pradono sangat menghargai dan terlibat proses dalam perancangannya, menghargai waktu bersama team, untuk bereksperimentasi dengan hal-hal yang baru berbagai kemungkinan pengembangan. Ia pernah menuliskan: Program-program dipertanyakan kembali, material baru diuji coba kembali, tipologi-tipologi fungsional yang sudah umum digugat demi menemukan rancangan yang lebih sustainable (2009:18).

Proses ini membawa kesadaran kritis terhadap perancangan dan mengujinya kedalam rangkaian kompetisi internasional. Untuk merealisasikan hal-hal baru dalam perancangan tentu butuh negosiasi dengan banyak pihak, karena berbagai kepentingan politik dan kapital dalam suatu perancangan memang mutlak dan lazim. Baginya negosiasi-negosiasi ini bisa dicermati sebagai sebuah dinamika.

Seperti yang diungkapkannya dalam pengantar konsepnya; “ Menyikapi peraturan, menyiasati program fungsionalnya, explorasi material, kombinasi maupun komposisi berbagai material semuanya mengarahkan pada sesuatu yang akan dicapai kemudian, baik kualitas ruang fisik nya secara implisit adalah tidak saja berupa implementasi konsep dari arsitek tetapi dalam perjalanan prosesnya selalu merupakan usaha tarik - menarik maupun negoisasi praktis dengan end-user yang tentu saja memiliki kriteria-kriteria yang spesifik pada setiap ruang. Spesifikasi pragmatis dari end-user tetap harus diterjemahkan secara estetik demi menghasikan satu komposisi aransemen yang indah, unik dan personal.

***

Sebuah bangunan atau gedung hasil rancangan seorang arsitek, bukan hanya suatu rancangan yang didasari oleh trend atau dorongan ekonomi, tapi dari pertimbangan imajinasi dan pengembangan artistik yang diambil dari berbagai acuan lokal atau global dengan juga memasukan keberagaman unsur sebagai pertimbangan nilai manusia dan budayanya, sebagai bentukan eklektik dan hibrid. Persoalan utama lingkungan maupun sosial- budaya kontemporer saat ini, sedikit banyak dibentuk oleh dunia arsitektur dalam suatu konteks kebijakan dan paradigma masyarakat umum. Maka dunia arsitektur ditantang untuk menciptakan kehidupan masyarakat yang sadar dan dewasa terhadap sosial-budaya dan lingkungannya. Apakah untuk rancangan rumah tinggal, gedung perkantoran, apartemen, mall dan lainnya. Perlu sebuah keberanian intelektual untuk bernegosiasi dengan berbagai pihak untuk mendorong perbaikan lingkungan dan memikirkan kehidupan masa depan. Ditengah tak – adanya regulasi yang kuat dan aturan-aturan yang jelas berjangka-panjang, terutama berhubungan pengambangan perkotaan di Indonesia, yang banyak kekayaan dan keragaman budayanya, selain potensi pengembangan bahan baku dasar dan teknologi.

Maka ketika kita mencermati karya-karya Budi Pradono, mungkin kita akan banyak mendapat suatu harapan berarsitektur yang lebih punya visi masa depan. Toh, perubahan – perubahan yang kita impikan justru hanya sangat mungkin dilakukan dengan perbaikan dari tingkat mikro atau bagaimana kita sebagai individu menyikapinya baik bagi sosial dan alam sebagai jalan hidup. Maka bila demikian tak ada istilah utopia.

(Rifky Effendy, Kurator Seni Rupa )