Home to fly for takes root in Yogyakarta

Asip A. Hasani, Contributor, Yogyakarta

"Like standing in an open space among shady trees" is the perfect description for the feeling one gets inside this house in Tembi village in Bantul, Yogyakarta.

The house, whose main building mostly serves as a living room, is for the most part surrounded by walls. However, the walls do not make the people inside feel their views are limited as the walls are made out of framed pieces of transparent glass, giving a clear vista of the soothing scenery outside.

"Perhaps it was the result of six hours a day sweating in a two-square-meter windowless music practice room or living five years in a tiny room in New York City while I was studying at the Juilliard," the house's owner, Sharon Eng, a professional violist as well as educator at the Jakarta International School (JIS), said in explaining her house's design.

She is planning to take up residence in the house when she retires from the JIS in six years time.

The impression of spaciousness in the house also comes from its high ceilings and walls. The walls, which are dominated by transparent glass, are about five meters high, while the highest ceiling is seven meters in height.

Other factors -- like the absence of doors connecting one room to another, such as her bathroom -- also support the impression of space.

"The feeling of openness and being in commune with nature is germane to the house design. I have always found squeezing oneself into a water closet to be against the laws of nature. I have not observed vertebrates in nature peeing in small, dark caves with closed entrances, but they do tend to back up into corners. The same with the design of my bathrooms," said Sharon.

She added that movable screens and sliding partitions would be installed at the entrances to the bathrooms to provide a bit more privacy.

Gifted architect Eko A. Prawoto designed the house with six wooden roof supports and six pairs of wooden pillars.

In the house's main hall, there are no tables or chairs, only small pieces of furniture made out of wood or terra-cotta works that serve more as decorative elements and are placed close to the walls, thus producing an even more spacious atmosphere. Several sets of furniture are placed on verandas, including an antique divan, than serve as places for receiving guests or relaxing.

The only part in the house that might disrupt its open ambience is the guest bedroom on the second floor, as it is bigger than the guest bathroom under it.

In general, however, the impression of space and openness that the house manages to convey makes the main building look much bigger than its real size of 77 square meters -- excluding some appurtencances like the verandas and maid's quarter.

From the outside, the house, which stands on a 1,000 square- meter plot of land, 300 square meters of which is given over to parking space, looks similar to other Javanese house. The used terra-cotta roofing tiles and the antique Madura-style front door gives an air of simplicity and rustication.

The widespread use of wood adds a special touch, something that one immediately notices upon seeing the house for the first time. The main structure of the house, including the house's pillars and roof supports, uses coconut tree wood that is much cheaper than other types of wood. Hard wood, including wood from Kalimantan, was used for certain parts, such as the open wooden platform at the back of the house.

"Rather than cement and bricks, Eko chose fast-growth plantation wood. Wood is beautiful. Wood is natural. Wood breathes, is cool, is flexible, blends with the wind, blends in with nature," Sharon said regarding the use of coconut tree wood.

As an expatriate, Sharon could not buy the land on which the house is built. Previously, she rented for 17 years a house standing on a 700-square-meter site in Tembi. But, feeling bored with the house's "common" structure, with its concrete walls all around, with its owner's consent she demolished the old house and built her dream house. She also rented an additional 300 square meters of land and turned it into parking space.

"I want to bring 15 high school students from our Jakarta International School String Chamber Music Ensemble to my house next year. We'll practice on the lovely deck (open wooden platform) outside, and I will invite the children from the surrounding communities to see and hear our concerts," said Sharon, who has been Director of Strings at the JIS middle and high schools since 1996.

In her new house, the entire floor is constructed out of blue tiles from the old house. None of the trees around the house were felled.

The presence of a two-meter-high fence around the house and the site -- except to the rear of the house -- prevents a clear views of the surrounding trees in the neighborhood.

For Sharon, the new house is a blend of Zen and Javanese architecture as well as modern L.A., as shown by the use of curving glass blocks in her private bathroom.

"My insistence on curving glass blocks in the bathroom and an open space design have resulted in a house that melds Zen, Javanese and L.A. modern. The house almost floats and wants to fly rather than remain rooted in the forest."