Aga Khan Award for airport presented<\/p>\n
By Amir Sidharta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): This past week, the attention of observers of
\narchitecture of the Islamic world has been centered on Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was presented in the
\nKraton of Surakarta, in Solo, Central Java last night. As the
\nguests to the ceremonies arrived in Jakarta, they literally
\ndescended upon one of the twelve recipients of the largest
\narchitectural prize in the world, with awards totaling up to
\nUS$500,000. None other than Indonesia's gateway, the Soekarno-
\nHatta Airport in Cengkareng, is one of the recipients of this
\nprestigious prize.<\/p>\n
In the sixth award cycle 1992-1995, 442 projects were
\nreviewed, 22 of which were evaluated in situ by technical
\nreviewers. The twelve projects that were finally selected as 1995
\nrecipients of the award could be grouped into three categories.<\/p>\n
The Restoration of Bukhara Old City, Uzbekistan, the
\nConservation of Old Sana'a, Yemen, the Reconstruction of Hafsia
\nQuarter II, Tunis, Tunisia, the Khuda-ki Basti Incremental
\nDevelopment Scheme, Hyderabad, Pakistan, and the Aranya Community
\nHousing, Indore, India are considered to be projects that address
\na critical social discourse.<\/p>\n
Falling under the category of projects with critical
\narchitectural\/ urbanistic discourse are the Great Mosque of
\nRiyadh and Redevelopment of the Old City Center, Riyadh, Saudi
\nArabia, the Menara Mesiniaga in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the
\nKaedi Regional Hospital in Kaedi, Mauritania.<\/p>\n
The Mosque of the Grand National assembly, the Reforestation
\nProgram of Middle-East Technical University, two projects in
\nAnkara, Turkey, the Alliance Franco-Senegalaise, Kaolack,
\nSenegal, and the Landscaping Integration of Jakarta's Soekarno-
\nHatta Airport are seen as projects that introduce innovative
\nconcepts worthy of attention.<\/p>\n
The Cengkareng airport does indeed introduce a concept that
\nmay be considered innovative and worthy of attention. The master
\nplan of the Soekarno-Hatta was developed by Aeroport de Paris
\nwith a design by Paul Andreu. As mentioned in the Report of the
\n1995 Award Master Jury, the architect envisioned \"that visitors
\narriving at Jakarta would immediately gain a sense of place by
\nexperiencing the integration of building, nature, and climate
\nthat is unique to Indonesia.\"<\/p>\n
Consisting of freestanding pavilions with open connecting
\nwalkways which face landscaped greens, the airport offers a
\nrather unique experience to airline passengers arriving in
\nJakarta. After disembarking from the airplane and proceeding
\ntoward the baggage collection area, passengers encounter the
\nlandscaped gardens and get a glimpse of the natural environment
\nof the region.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the landscaped gardens also provide a pleasant
\nenvironment in which passengers waiting in the departure lobbies
\non the upper level of the pavilions are able to see the layout of
\nthe gardens in its entirety.<\/p>\n
The large openings of the corridor were literally open and
\nleft unscreened to ensure the feeling of openness. However, thick
\nwalls provided a security barrier, inevitably diminishing the
\nimpression of openness.<\/p>\n
Ironically, despite the thickness of the walls, the architect
\nfailed to address the intense rain and wind conditions of the
\narea, and in the past, the feeling of openness was exaggerated
\nduring the monsoon season. The unscreened openings did little to
\nensure that arriving passengers be completely sheltered from the
\nwind-driven rain. The problem has required the addition of
\nlouvered windows to encase the fenestrations, diminishing even
\nfurther the feeling of openness.<\/p>\n
In the design of Terminal II, airport authorities requested
\nthe provision for air conditioning, which in turn required the
\ninstallation of windows throughout the entire lengths of the
\ncorridors, causing a physical separation between the inside and
\nthe outside. However, the architect cleverly remedied the problem
\nby extending the windows to the floor, thus allowing for a visual
\nconnection between inside and outside.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time that a project in Indonesia has
\nreceived the award. In the past, in four out the five award
\ncycles, the Aga Khan Award has been given to projects in
\nIndonesia. In 1980, the Kampung Improvement Program in Jakarta
\nand the Pondok Pesantren Pabelan in Central Java was awarded the
\nprize. The Kampung Kebalen Improvement in Surabaya and the Said
\nNaum Mosque in Jakarta received honorable mentions in 1986. Citra
\nNiaga Urban Development in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, received
\nthe award in the fourth cycle of the Award in 1989. In the most
\nrecent cycle in 1992, Kampung Kali Code in Yogyakarta was awarded
\nthe prize. It is evident that the Indonesian projects that have
\nbeen awarded are mostly those which have taken into consideration
\nthe social needs of particular local communities.<\/p>\n
The 1995 Aga Khan Award Master Jury cites the Cengkareng
\nproject \"for demonstrating that even the most functional of high-
\ntech projects, an airport, can innovatively incorporate
\nlandscaping throughout its design, on the air side as well as the
\nland side, thereby challenging all architects to rethink ideas
\nabout the links between landscaping and built form.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aga-khan-award-for-airport-presented-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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