Architecture

Coming back to Jakarta after 18 years and with the plan to be once more one of its citizens for a number of years, I was immensely impressed by the development that has been taking place in the city, but most of all in its center.

Being an architect myself, much of my interest, quite naturally, went to the products of my fellow designers of buildings. And, although the spread of prestigious office complexes and hotels can easily stand the comparison with similar projects anywhere in the world, I am also very worried with the serious decline in the quality of the architecture in general.

While the city center can indeed be compared with that of any other metropolis in the world, at the same time it looks disturbingly like any other center; no special character, no reference to your rich culture, nothing that even remotely builds on the basis of traditional Indonesian architecture, or uses anything of its refine language.

As far as I am concerned, this could be Hawaii, this could be Florida, and if you take out the palm trees, it could be anywhere.

Maybe this is a deliberate choice, in which case I should respect it, being a guest in your country. But I simply refuse to believe that! I fear that, like in so many other cities, architecture and urban design are the victim of economic development--no time to think twice, not enough care on the part of the people who invested in the cityscape.

Now, I realize that criticism like this is easier given than a better approach is found. To start with, at first glance there is not much in the history of Indonesian architecture that can be used as a guideline for the design of multi-functional centers at the end of the 20th century; you are not dealing with sprawling one-storey kratons (palaces) anymore, but with offices that must house thousands of people.

But I am sure a new approach can be found, even if it takes careful study, painstaking analysis and hard work; good examples in regards to results of such work can be found in other countries. In those cases a careful blend of modern requirements, translated with the use of beautiful old language, has been tried--with success!

This can also be done in Jakarta and I would like to propose that my fellow Indonesian architects and city planners take up the challenge; it is so much more worth it!

HANS W. VAN OS

Jakarta