Architects face world competition
Architects face world competition
By Amir Sidharta
JAKARTA (JP): Following last November's APEC summit, Indonesian architects will be faced with new challenges. At a time when many Indonesian firms are struggling to get commissions, the opening of the market to the international scene will bring greater competition.
Indonesian architects already compete with foreign architects. Having experienced harsh recessions in their home countries, architects, particularly from the United States and Australia, have found Indonesia's building boom to be a working haven. Teaming up with local architects or working under the guise of local companies, they pose a significant challenge for Indonesian architects.
A good number of Indonesian architects cannot find work even during the current boom because many projects have been won by foreign firms. However, the fierce competition that Indonesian architectural design firms face cannot be seen as the fault of foreign architects. Rather, it calls for self introspection.
"Leading Indonesian architects lack vision," exclaimed Sonny Sutanto, an instructor at the School of Architecture of the University of Indonesia. He identified three major problems leading Indonesian architects currently face.
First, most Indonesian architects' designs are stagnant. Many buildings are simply not exciting, like the two high-rises at the south end of Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta, which some architects see as clumsy phallic designs.
Second, Indonesian architects have turned to building production and place less attention on the process of design. Even then, however, their production remains poor.
Related to the second problem, the third and perhaps the most common problem of Indonesian architects is poor delivery. Many contractors have complained that architects' working drawings are often not complete or carelessly produced. Some have had to redraw the construction details. Rather than having to deal with poor working drawings produced by Indonesian architects, some Japanese and Korean contractors even go so far as handling the working drawings free of charge.
The situation has become even worse due to the lack of support from the industry. As the anonymous architect points out, most suppliers in Indonesia are really mere traders and are only interested in selling their product. They could care less about the quality of the products they supply.
The lack of vision on the part of the Indonesian architects has lead to poor planning, hampering appropriate action. In turn, it has become the root of the problems mentioned above.
Competitive services
Foreign architects come up with better designs, thorough documentation work, meticulous specifications for materials and details, and lower fees.
Many foreign firms are able to bid lower by breaking down their work into many segments. The fees are calculated as a percentage of the nominal sums of the services they provide. Each segment is attached with a diminutive fee, almost transparent to the client. In addition, foreign firms work efficiently and make optimal use their precious database of past projects.
However, many Indonesians accuse foreign companies of lowering their fees just to secure work here instead of having to face tougher competition and the prolonged recession in their home countries.
Some foreign firms also capitalize on the international image Indonesians hold so dear, while they may be second rate firms in their respective countries.
"What we get is often merely second or third rate designs," Sutanto added, referring to many mediocre buildings along the Sudirman and Thamrin corridor.
According to Sutanto, even world famous architects such as I. M. Pei provide design that have been seen before. It seems that the BDNI City Tower he has designed to be erected next to the Sahid Jaya Hotel on Jl. Sudirman will be similar to the Bank of Cina in Hong Kong, which he designed in the late 1980s.
Seeing the phenomenon a little differently, another architect who asked not to be named, observes that foreign firms are far more efficient and superior in the management of their documentation and database systems. Using vast building systems templates, they are able to modify past systems into new designs or even modify old designs into new ones with ease.
According to him, some Indonesian developers have bought used designs from prominent international firms and one was caught using a stolen design. A few years ago, a building on Jl. Gatot Subroto was ruled as a copy of Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo's famed Knights of Columbus building in New Haven, Connecticut, and its developers were fined.
Packaged deal
Another phenomenon is the inclusion of architects into a packaged financial deal. Some financiers, especially the Japanese and Koreans, will provide funds for prospective projects on the condition that the architects and contractors with which they are associated, usually originating from their respective countries, are incorporated into the project. These kinds of financial packages tend to further exclude Indonesian architects.
Ultimately, the solution rests with Indonesian architects themselves. Many large local firms, which were late in anticipating competition, need to work on developing their management. Antar, whose firm just started to use computer aided design (CAD), sees the answer in computerization.
"Computers can help architectural designers to consider many aspects of design comprehensively. They can help us produce meticulous documentation and fine drawings," Antar said.
He adds that while Indonesian architects can create good designs, far too often their presentation is so poor that they fail to win the confidence of their prospective clients. Using CAD, architects can reduce mistakes in drawings and also enhance the presentations they prepare for their clients.
While another anonymous architect appreciates the Association of Indonesian Architects' code of ethics, he deems it too conservative. The code is too strict and does not allow for market competition. To avoid price wars, the code of ethics specify architectural design fees at a minimum percentage of total construction costs. Architecture professionals are expected to compete on the basis of design instead of fees. In reality, clients more often than not make their decisions based on price.
The architect also suggests that architects should be able to lower their fees by providing less. He himself often charges his clients half the amount that he should charge according to the association's standards. The professional is able to do so because he has a good working relationship with the contractor he uses. He produces a compact set of drawings and leaves the design development to the contractor. He justifies charging significantly less by doing less work.
Because architects can be held accountable for the quality of their designs, documentation work is a crucial component of any project. The professional should provide complete documentation not only to ensure that their project is properly constructed, but also to protect them from suits if anything goes wrong. While producing less drawings may enable architects to compete, it also confirms the belief that professionalism among Indonesian architects is deteriorating.
Role models
The presence of foreign architects in Indonesia can also be a plus. The designs of internationally acclaimed architects, such as Paul Rudolph (Wisma Dharmala Sakti) and Kohn Pederson Fox (Niaga Tower) on Jl. Sudirman, have placed Jakarta on the map of world architecture. Jakarta has become a new intersection of architectural trends.
Many foreign architectural firms serve as excellent role models. I. M. Pei's Pei Cobb Freed firm is one to look up to. Currently planning the Bank Danamon City on Jl. Sudirman, it is placing its footprint on the architectural scene in Indonesia. When the Association of Indonesian Architects asked them to reconsider the demolition plan of an old mosque on the site, they immediately responded that they had not been informed of the significance of the Syarif Hidayatullah Mosque. Some people even believe that the property developers and the local architectural partners never informed the international firm of the existence of the mosque. Pei Cobb Freed have committed themselves to rethink their designs.
Rumors have it that Gae Aulenti, the Italian architect of the Musee D'Orsay in Paris, will be designing Indonesia's new National Gallery of Art. Her design will certainly add another significant work to the architectural scheme of Jakarta.
Other Indonesian firms have tied themselves to international design firms in a fashion much like fast-food franchises. Partnerships with international firms guarantee transfer of technology which enables standards to meet international expectations and requirements. This seems to be the way to go.
Indonesian professionals not affiliated with international firms don't mind learning from the best. With the global market encroaching, the saying "when in Rome, do what the Romans do" is no longer valid. So instead, as American architect Robert Venturi learned from the commercial strip in his book Learning form Las Vegas, Indonesian architects can learn much from the traffic of world architecture at its new crossroads in Jakarta.