Jakarta airport wins Aga Khan Award
Jakarta airport wins Aga Khan Award
JAKARTA (JP): The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the
main gateway to Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, has been named
one of the 12 winners of this year's prestigious Aga Khan Award
for Architecture.
The spacious airport structure, with its roof modeled on the
traditional Javanese joglo house, and surrounded by well-tended
gardens, was designed by French architect Paul Andreu and his
Indonesian team.
It won the award for its innovative landscaping design.
The Soekarno-Hatta airport was picked along with 11 other
projects in the Middle East, Asia and Africa for the Aga Khan
awards. The award will be presented in a ceremony in Surakarta
this weekend.
The winners were selected from 442 nominees by the Geneva-
based Moslem Aga Khan social foundation. The foundation was set
up in 1957 by the Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili Moslems,
grandfather of Prince Karim Aga Khan, the current leader.
Prince Karim Aga Khan arrived yesterday to personally lead the
ceremony, which will also be attended by President Soeharto.
The prince is scheduled to meet with President Soeharto today
in Jakarta before flying to Yogyakarta, a city near Surakarta.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is part of the Aga Khan
Development Network, which is involved in health, education,
rural development and economic development, as well as
architectural education, research and restoration of architecture
in Asia and Africa.
Since the award was founded in 1977, numerous projects in
Indonesia have won the award. The last one being the work of
Catholic priest Mangunwijaya for his kampong improvement program
in Kali Code in Yogyakarta in 1992.
Passion
French architect Paul Andreu told The Jakarta Post he was very
happy to learn about the award.
"Another reason to be happy is the attachment I feel for the
Jakarta airport project. I worked with a great passion for many
years on that project. I found around me a lot of people as
passionate as I was, with whom I could develop a real friendship,
which I believe reflects on that project," Andreu said.
The award recipient for the airport is Andreu's entire project
team, made up of Zainuddin Sikado, Soetomo Adisasmito, Titi
Wuyantari, PT Konavi, PT Cakar Bumi and PT Dacrea Avia.
The airport construction, which was started in 1977, was done
in two stages. The first phase was completed in December 1984 and
the second in June 1991. The two terminals have a capacity to
handle 25 million passengers a year.
Other award winners were the Bukhara old city restoration in
Uzbekistan, the Yemen conservation of Old Sana'a, the Tunisia
reconstruction of Hafsia Quarter II, the Pakistan Khuda-ki-Basti
Incremental Development Scheme in Hyderabad, the Indian Aranya
community housing, the Saudi Arabia Great Mosque of Riyadh and
redevelopment of the old city center, Malaysia's Menara Mesiniaga
in Kuala Lumpur, Mauritania's Kaedi Regional Hospital, the Turkey
Mosque of the Grand National Assembly, the Senegal Alliance
Franco-Senegalaise and the Turkey's reforestation program of the
Middle East Technical university.
The awards of this sixth triennial have a total prize fund of
US$500,000. (hbk)